


camp konoha

by momsasuke



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, College, Comedy, Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Multi, Romantic Comedy, Some angst, Summer Camp, hinaten (background), poly kakashi-yamato-iruka-gai (background), slight nsfw down the line
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-03-26 16:21:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19009399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momsasuke/pseuds/momsasuke
Summary: Camp Konoha and Camp Suna are on opposite sides of Lake Nami, but have decided to intermingle for some camp events this summer. The new crop of camp counselors, fresh out of spring semester of college, stumble into some shenanigans, new friendships and, for some, new romances.





	1. staff move-in day

Sweat dripping down the nape of the neck, t-shirts clinging to damp skin, legs and arms peppered with bug bites, and blistering heat coupled with high humidity making the air feel like a scorching, dense blanket of mist…it may have only been the last week of May, but all the hallmarks of summer were in full affect. As Naruto swung open his car door, finally releasing his pent up excitement, he was hit with a wave of humid air that nearly made the busted AC unit of his car seem like a freezer box. After a short pause, Naruto glanced around the Camp Konoha parking lot with a look of childlike wonder. Flashbacks of his first summer staying at the camp as a camper came flooding in, and he recalled just how large the surrounding trees felt to him back then. Naruto was just starting middle school then and the next three summers at Camp Konoha were the best years of his life yet. Now, Naruto was about to become a camp counselor at his beloved home away from home. The stress of final exams after his first year of college had seamlessly rolled off his shoulders the moment he heard the distant chirping of cicadas desperately crying out for a mate.

Naruto reached into the back of his car to unload his suitcase and two boxes he brought along. Knowing he’d need to take two trips (only after failing at an attempt to carry the boxes AND bring the suitcase), Naruto set the boxes aside and dragged his suitcase through the gravel parking lot. Behind him he heard a car door slam shut and the distinct crush of gravel under someone’s frantic feet.

“NARUTO!!!” A voice called out and as Naruto turned around, he was greeted by Sakura frantically running towards him. She flung her arms around his head, pulling him in for a hug. It took Naruto a moment, but he returned her hug after a short pause.

Sakura pulled back from the hug to flash Naruto a wide smile, contemplating taking off his baseball cap to ruffle his hair. Judging from how impossibly hot it was, Sakura decided against willingly putting her hand on a sweaty mop of hair. “Long time no see, Naruto.”

Naruto rolled his eyes and waited for Sakura to grab the bag she dropped before proceeding towards the entrance, “Sakura, it’s been two weeks. There’s no way you missed me _that_ much.”

She let out a chuckle, “You’re right-”

 _Ouch,_ Naruto thought.

“But I’m just really excited to see everyone we will be working with this summer! From what I’ve heard, it’s just about all of our friends from the good old days.” Sakura chirped, and even Naruto felt himself regaining his excitement from just being in her presence.

“The ‘good old days’? Man, maybe for an old lady like _you-“_ Naruto was cut off by a punch to the arm, which he simply laughed off. The two continued through the large wooden “CAMP KONOHA” sign that marked the entrance of the camp. Just ahead was a small pop-up table with a “Check-In” poster taped to the front. Sitting at the table was a familiar face the pair immediately recognized.

“Counselor Yamato!” Sakura and Naruto shouted in perfect unison as they approached the table. Yamato, who was a bit sturdier looking then they remembered, offered a shy wave, “It’s good to see you two. Although I’m not a counselor anymore; you can just call me Yamato for now on. I help Kakashi run the camp now.” With that, Yamato handed both of them a folder of paperwork and put a check besides their names on the list of arrived counselors. 

Sakura and Naruto shot each other a glance with jaws agape before turning to Yamato, “Counselor Kakashi works here now too?!”

Yamato raised an eyebrow, “Who exactly hired you?”

Sakura spoke up first, “Well, I only ever had a phone interview with a man named Sukea.” Naruto nodded in agreement, crossing his arms against his chest.

Yamato gave a small sigh, shooting a tired glance towards the main cabin, “Of course he used a fake name… Regardless, one of the papers in your folders is a complete list of all the camp staff this year and the codes for their walkie-talkies. You’ll find a lot of familiar names on the list. Be sure to read over everything in that folder carefully, and bring any health forms that need to be signed to Iruka by the end of the night. Okay?”

The pair nodded, flipping through their folders. Yamato reached under the table to grab a pile of t-shirts and a walkie-talkie for each of them. He slid the piles towards Naruto and Sakura, “Here, these are your uniform shirts. There’s five, one for each day of the week and then on Saturday and Sunday, you may wear whatever you like as long as it is tie-dye as we requested. Your walkie-talkies need to be clipped to your belt at all times, except for at night. Got that, Naruto?” Yamato pointed a finger towards the blond, who nodded vigorously in defense. “Alright, your cabin assignments are in the folder. Go ahead and unpack, and then meet up at 5 for the opening staff meeting. See you two then.” Yamato finished with a small smile, which the two couldn’t help but return.

Naruto’s cabin was number 9, close to the edge of camp, while Sakura had cabin number 1. The two split ways after reaching Sakura’s cabin. As Naruto continued past the row of wooden houses, he spotted Shikamaru leaning against the door frame of cabin 5, slowly exhaling a puff of vape. As the vapor moved past his face, his eyes lit up with surprise, “Well, if it isn’t Naruto “The Bed Wetter” Uzumaki. How’s it going, buddy?”

Naruto clenched his fist around his suitcase handle, “Hey, asshole, I told you to keep that a secret!” His voice was a half-shout, half-whisper and Shikamaru chuckled at his flustered friend.

“It’s good to see you, Naruto. Just glad to not have to share a bunk bed with you this time.” Shikamaru placed his vape pen between his lips, inhaling and exhaling as slowly as humanly possible. Even at a distance, Naruto could smell the pungent odor of cotton candy from the vapor.

Naruto’s eyes narrowed, “Are we allowed to have vapes on camp grounds?”

Shikamaru flashed him his trademark smirk, a smirk that Naruto knew all too well, “Absolutely forbidden.”

“Well, I wish you luck with _that._ See ya, Shikamaru.” With that, Naruto continued on his way to his cabin.

Stopping at the threshold of the cabin, Naruto’s memories took him back to his younger days, and he recalled the time Shino’s pet tarantula got loose in cabin 9 and how Kiba and Lee were the only ones brave enough to help him. Naruto also remembered the high pitch shrieks that came from Hinata, Ino and Choji when they heard about the rogue spider, as if the dense woods around them weren’t teeming with “creepy crawlies”, as Ino liked to call them. With a smile plastered on his face, Naruto stepped forward into the cabin, taking note of the creaky front floorboard. His bed was near the front of the cabin, a single bed unlike the five bunk beds that consumed the rest of the floor space. He set his suitcase by the bed and jogged off to get his last two boxes, making sure to wave hello at an apathetic looking Neji moving into cabin 8. Once the last of his things were moved into his cabin, Naruto began unpacking.

The mattress felt like sheet rock as he smoothed out a thin mattress topper his mother insisted he packed and like always, Naruto was thankful he listened. After dressing his bed with sheets and a pillow, Naruto pulled out a few comic books he had brought and left them on the bed. On the small nightstand beside his bed, Naruto put his alarm clock (again, Kushina’s idea), a lucky ceramic frog figurine, and a framed photo of the campers from his first summer at camp Konoha. He sat on the edge of his bed, holding the picture frame in his hands as he examined the smiling (and non-smiling) faces of his friends. It was a nice reminder of how much fun camp could be and it left Naruto feeling inspired to be the best camp counselor he could be. Looking back, Kakashi didn’t set the bar too incredibly high for him.

With about fifteen minutes to spare before the staff meeting, Naruto checked his folder again for any paperwork that needed his signature and headed out the door. To his left in cabin 7, a large barking noise caught Naruto’s attention. Naruto pumped his fist up in the air and set off to knock on his cabin neighbor’s door. As soon as the door opened, a giant blur of white fur tackled Naruto to the ground, frantically licking his face.

“JEEZ, Akamaru, you’re HUGE!” Naruto managed between laughter and rolling to avoid Akamaru’s tongue on his lips.

Naruto heard a familiar voice from the doorway, “Hey now, if it isn’t Naruto Uzumaki!” Kiba snapped his fingers and Akamaru jumped off of Naruto towards Kiba, who rewarded him with a scratch behind his ears. Slowly, Naruto brought himself to his feet and wiped the dirt off his shorts. He finally got a good look at Kiba, who he hadn’t seen in five years. Kiba’s skin was a darker tan now, yet a faint spread of freckles still showed on his cheeks. He still had his bright red face tattoos, but Naruto did notice he had a few ear piercings now. Kiba offered a hand to Naruto and without thinking, the two performed their intricate secret handshake they devised on the last day of camp five years ago. Naruto was shocked at how he was able to pull every move out of his brain, especially the part where he leap-frogs over Kiba, a move that felt cool at age 14 but had lost its effect. Once the handshake was completed, the pair laughed hard enough to make Naruto snort, which only resulted in more laughs. As they began to head out, a voice called for them to stop. This time Choji came jogging up to them, with a smile from cheek to cheek. It had also been five years since they last saw each other, but not much about Choji had changed other than his now ridiculously long hair.  

Naruto waved as his old friend approached, “Choji! We’ve missed you, buddy!”

Choji, thankful to have been remembered so fondly, smiled even brighter. “I’m glad you two lunatics are working here. I was afraid with Shino and Neji here things might get a bit….stiff.”

The three of them started off to the main cabin, which was about a ten-minute walk from their cabins but offered a beautiful view of Lake Nami along the way. They caught each other up to speed about how college life was; Choji was flourishing at culinary school, Naruto was still undecided about his major and Kiba wasn’t sure he’d manage through organic chemistry if he stuck with the pre-vet path. They focused the second half of the conversation on gossip they had heard, such as Hinata and Tenten starting to date about 6 months ago to absolutely no one’s surprise.

In no time Choji, Kiba and Naruto reached the main cabin, which had a few rows of wooden benches facing the front porch. Being the last ones to arrive right at 4:58pm, Naruto was able to scan the rows. Neji, Hinata, Tenten and Lee made up the front row, while Ino, Sakura and Sai sat in the second row. The third row was spread out; Shikamaru and Shino were engaged in a quiet conversation and one particular loner sat off to the side by himself. Judging from the spiky black hair spilled out of the back of his baseball cap, Naruto knew exactly who the lone wolf was: Sasuke Uchiha. Choji and Kiba sat down in the fourth row, patting the wooden seat next to them for Naruto to join. He sat right behind Sasuke, who was obviously aware of his presence as he shifted ever so slightly to the right so Naruto could see the porch fully. Naruto knew Sasuke had a tendency to be ice cold, but Naruto thought-no, he _hoped_ -that things might be different between them given what happened at Ino’s party last semester….

All thoughts of _that_ night came to an abrupt halt as Kakashi stepped out of the main cabin and leaned against the wooden column of the porch. He looked like he hadn’t aged a day in five years, although with the way his white “camp staff” ringer t-shirt was tucked into his jean shorts, Kakashi looked like a 65-year-old retiree. To his side stood Yamato, Iruka, and Gai, all with increasing levels of excitement as you scanned left to right.

Kakashi cleared his throat to stop the quiet conversations, “Welcome, everyone, to Camp Konoha. I surely hope it’s everything you remembered it being and maybe even more-or maybe even less.” Kakashi shrugged his shoulders while Yamato muttered “Kakashi!” through clenched teeth. “Well, I hope this is a rewarding summer for all of you since you all get to be the camp counselors this go around. Pretty exciting, huh?” There was little to no inflection in Kakashi’s voice and the rest of the staff fidgeted awkwardly in their seats.

Iruka took a step forward, reading from a clipboard, “To start the staff meeting, let’s go over some brief introductions of our new roles, since we are no longer counselors. I’m in charge of overseeing the arts programs, so Sai, Choji and Hinata will work directly under my authority. Gai is in charge of recreational sports, so Tenten, Naruto and Lee will be working for him. Kakashi is in charge of the water recreational sports, working with Shikamaru, Sasuke and Neji. Yamato, who is taking over the nature department, will be working with Shino and Kiba. Sakura and Ino, as our medics-in-training, you will be working for Nurse Shizune, who will be here each day from 9 to 5. Outside of those hours, you two are our go-to for first aid.”

Naruto looked for any sense of a reaction from Sasuke but found him as rigid as marble. As Yamato took a step forward to speak about cabin cleaning duties, Kiba tapped Naruto’s leg. Choji leaned in to here Kiba whisper, “You hear about Kakashi, Gai, Iruka and Yamato?” Naruto shook his head and tilted slightly to hear Kiba better, “Apparently their dating. _All of them._ ”

Naruto stared forward in disbelief and looked more closely at the four of them on the porch. He noticed how fondly Kakashi was looking at Yamato while he discussed deep cleaning floorboards, and Iruka and Gai seemed to be leaning just a little too close into each other’s personal space.

“Are they all living in the main cabin?” Choji asked.

Kiba nodded and crossed his arms across his chest, “So if you hear the main cabin a’rocking at night, get the _fuck_ out of there, but peek in long enough to figure out where Kakashi sits in the triple dip.” Naruto let out a cackle as Choji smacked Kiba hard with a resounding SLAP, both of which were loud enough to get everyone to turn around and glance at them.

Kakashi, looking as smug as ever, spoke up, “Care to share anything of value about the use of moth balls, you three?”

The three troublemakers shook their heads with a uniform “No, sir.”

“Very well,” Kakashi continued, “I’m sure you all can read over the staff handbook in your folders tonight. Let’s make our way to the mess hall and grab dinner.”

As the staff rose from their seats, Naruto was determined to walk with Sasuke and see what exactly he was pissed about today. Naruto turned to say hi to Sasuke, only to find that he had slipped through the group to talk to Kakashi. Naruto stood there for a moment, waiting to see if maybe it was a quick question or complaint. However, the two seemed to have started a conversation, and Kiba tugged on Naruto’s sleeve to get him to move with the rest of the group.

The mess hall was a sizeable distance away, as it was to be shared with their rival camp across the lake. Both camps had to make a twenty-minute hike to get food from their main cabins, but the walk from the staff & camper cabins was only ten minutes. Choji loudly complained about his growling stomach as they walked, and the sound of the empty beast rang out very few minutes. Naruto glanced back to see Sasuke walking with the head staff a good distance away. He turned forward again and tried to follow along with whatever crazy story Kiba was going on about.

Once at the mess hall, which was a large wooden building with three rows of long, cafeteria tables, Naruto took a spot near the edge of his group, hoping Sasuke would sit across from him. As he set his tray of Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and peas down, Sasuke and the head staff walked in. Naruto watched patiently as Sasuke entered and got his tray of food. For a moment, Sasuke stood at the end of the serving line, scanning the room. He seemed to glance over Naruto completely, but after a long pause, approached Naruto’s table and sat down wordlessly across from him.

Naruto, excited to finally be able to talk to Sasuke after nearly a month, found himself smiling impossibly wide. “Sasuke….good to see you.”

With a spoon full of mashed potatoes raised to his mouth, Sasuke stared back at Naruto with a look that wasn’t quite menacing but was far removed from happy, “You know I’m only sitting here because I don’t like anyone else, right?”

_Ouch, that stings._

Nevertheless, Naruto’s smile didn’t falter, “That just means you like me the best then, I’ll take it.” Sasuke ignored him and continued eating, eyes flickering to Naruto’s untouched plate.

After an uncomfortable silence, Sasuke put down his spoon and Naruto noticed his face grew increasingly more frustrated. “Naruto,” Sasuke’s voice dropped to a whisper but the anger was still palpable, “I’m not going to discuss the party with you. Not here.”

Seeing Sasuke so angry was difficult for Naruto so he simply nodded and focused his attention on his food. But he couldn’t give it up so easily…

* * *

**April 21 st, Saturday night/Sunday morning, 12:15am**

Naruto had been at Ino’s 4/20 party for a few hours now and Ino, as an excellent hostess, made sure no cup went unfilled that night. Naruto was certainly feeling himself tip-toing the line between very tipsy and just flat out drunk. The crowd was large, the music was loud and the punch was definitely lacking in the juice department. Naruto didn’t know most of Ino’s biology major friends aside from Sakura, which would have made him deeply uncomfortable if he hadn’t been locking eyes with Sasuke Uchiha throughout the night. Sasuke, their mutual friend from camp, had been Naruto’s stupid childhood crush he’s never been able to grow out of. And now, with Sasuke in tight black jeans, a black crop top and a single earring dangling and glistening under the party lights, Naruto knew his little camp crush had grown up with him. He stared down at his half-empty cup…his sixth one of the night. _Am I drinking to forget Sasuke or to find the liquid courage to talk to him? Both, probably._

When Naruto looked back up, Sasuke was gone from his spot across the room. Confused, Naruto glanced around until he saw Sasuke approaching _him._ Stopping right in front of him, Naruto could detect the smell of vodka on Sasuke’s lips.

“You’ve been staring.” Sasuke said bluntly.

Flustered, Naruto reached a hand back to rub his neck, “Oh me? Oh ha-ha sorry I-“ Before Naruto could finish, Sasuke grabbed his other hand and led him through the crowd towards the empty hallway leading to the bathroom. Out of sight from the rest of the crowd, Sasuke pushed Naruto against the hallway wall, kissing him as if his life depended on it. Both the shock and alcohol slowed Naruto’s brain down to a snail’s pace and before he could actually kiss back, Sasuke pulled away with annoyance, “You fucking suck at kissing.”

Naruto started to babble, unable to find the right words, “W-wait, you can’t just kiss me like that!?”

Sasuke raised a brow, “Hm? You didn’t want to kiss me?”

“N-no, it’s not that, I was just so surprised, I-“

Sasuke began to close the gap between them again, “I’ve wanted to kiss you for years. I used to dream about kissing you at the ‘end of summer’ dance when we were kids.”

Naruto, who was definitely stumbling towards ‘flat out drunk’ failed to stop his laughter at the thought of the frigid ice king wanting to kiss a goofball like himself at a crummy _summer camp dance._ Sasuke looked visibly hurt by Naruto’s laughter and turned to walk away. Whatever functional brain cells Naruto had left refused to let him screw up an important moment, so he reached out to grab Sasuke’s arm. Naruto kissed Sasuke properly this time, if not a little too sloppy given how many cups of punch he’d gone through. It was a moment Naruto could never forget; how Sasuke finally broke down some of his self-imposed walls and let Naruto take control. The moment Naruto’s tongue found its way into Sasuke’s mouth, he immediately pulled away and clutched his stomach. Naruto, terrified that he royally fucked up his first attempt at French kissing, placed a worried hand on Sasuke’s shoulder. Sasuke bolted for the bathroom door and without closing the door, threw up in Ino’s toilet.

_Holy shit…._

_I’m so bad at kissing that I made Sasuke vomit-_

Mortified, Naruto walked into the bathroom to help Sasuke, only to find him passed out against the toilet seat, vomit still on his mouth. Naruto cleaned up both Sasuke and the bathroom, and Ino graciously offered up her couch for Sasuke to sleep on that night. Before he left, Naruto let Ino know about their rendezvous in her hallway and asked if she could talk to him about it in the morning. Much to Naruto’s disappointment, Sasuke said he couldn’t remember a thing from that night even after Ino informed him of everything that happened. Sasuke avoided Naruto at all costs after that, not answering his texts and ignoring him at other parties. 

* * *

Naruto, crushed beyond belief, tried his best to remain hopeful. Ino and Sakura tried to revive his spirits by saying that Sasuke wouldn’t have acted on feelings unless he truly felt them. That was enough to carry him through to camp but how much longer could he go on knowing there’s something there? Naruto had two goals this summer: to be the best camp counselor he could be and to figure out the endless pit of despair that Sasuke calls a heart.


	2. staff training part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The staff at Camp Konoha break loose with some drinks to celebrate their first day as camp counselors, but Sakura finds herself becoming more and more unnerved as Ino seems to get closer and closer.

After the staff had finished their dinner, Kakashi made an announcement that staff training would resume at 8am the next day. Iruka reminded the group that curfew was 10pm, but when Naruto glanced at Kakashi for confirmation, he simply shrugged. The four head of staff took their leave first, and as soon as the mess hall doors shut, Kiba was climbing onto the table to make a proclamation.

“I say we celebrate our first night as Camp Konoha counselors! Party at my cabin!” Kiba howled, beaming with excitement. The rest of the staff, lacking the same party animal enthusiasm, simply nodded and began to sit up from their seats. Choji, in charge of cleaning up in the kitchen, stayed behind to wash dishes but promised to meet up with the others shortly. The group began their walk back to camp, breaking off into smaller groups as they walked. Tenten and Lee fell into stride with Neji, who, once prompted by Lee, began to drone on about the difficulties of quantitative finance. The conversation could not be any more boring and just as Tenten found herself practically nodding off while walking, a small hand slipped into her’s. A quick glance to her right showed that it was Hinata holding her hand, and Tenten let out a small sigh of relief. Hinata gave her a weak smile and nodded her head to the side, freeing her girlfriend from the mundane world of mathematics and finance.

“You look exhausted.” Hinata remarked quietly as the pair walked separately from the main group.

Tenten let out a full sigh this time and shrugged her shoulders, “It’s a miracle when you can get Neji to talk, but it takes another miracle to get him to shut up.”

Hinata chuckled softly, and Tenten found herself smiling again. It was past sundown now; the clear night sky began its descent on the horizon, giving the stars purchase on the darkening backdrop. Tenten couldn’t help but stare in awe at how serene this night felt: Hinata by her side, the calm yet steady ripple of water at the surface of Lake Nami, and the distant chirping of an orchestra of insects. She squeezed Hinata’s hand a little tighter and stopped walking, “Hey, let’s spend some time together tonight. Just you and me.”   


Hinata flashed a glance at her best friend Kiba, who was still bubbling over with excitement for the ‘cabin party’ he was holding. Tenten noticed this and rubbed the back of Hinata’s hand with her thumb. With that, Hinata focused her attention back to Tenten.  “Walk around the lake with me? We can always stop by Kiba’s later.”

Hinata nodded, reaching up on her tiptoes to give her girlfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. The pair diverged from the group, continuing to walk along the lake shore as the rest of the group took a left towards the cabins. Sasuke, lingering towards the back of the staff, continued past Kiba’s cabin towards his own, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

Kiba’s cabin was officially declared as the party cabin, at least for the duration of staff training.  With the five bunkbeds taking up the majority of the floorspace, there wasn’t much room for the ten of them left, so some crawled up to sit on the top bunk while others occupied the space on the bottom bunk. Kiba searched through a trunk he brought and pulled out two 12-packs of beer and a bottle of vodka. Naruto helped him pass out the beer while Ino snatched the bottle of vodka from his hands. Sakura and Ino, who sat by themselves on the edge of one of the bottom bunks, took swigs of the cheap vodka, chasing it with water. It was disgusting, but the two took turns laughing at the scrunched-up, face turning wince the other made. The pair were isolated in their own world, oblivious to the conversation the rest of the group was having.

Shikamaru was showing off a tattoo he had gotten on his forearm, something abstract and geometric. Neji stood at the door frame, turning down the beer and instead watching the so-called party with complete ambivalence. Shino joked in a monotoned voice that Neji stood in the doorway so he could technically say he never joined their “stupid little party”, which earned him a death glare from Neji but the laughter of his peers. Choji joined the group and promptly took care of the beers Neji turned down. The boys caught each other up to speed on how life had been, some diving into more details than others. Rock Lee, who was already plastered after only two beers, told the group about his experience as a kinesiology major while standing on Kiba’s bed. He swayed slightly but gave no indication he would ever fall down.

After several passes of Kiba’s vodka, Sakura and Ino were feeling a strong buzz. Ino was sent into a fit of uncontrollable laughter when Sakura, much to her own embarrassment, accidentally spilled some vodka on her pants. Ino laughed with her eyes closed and head thrown back, and Sakura couldn’t help but stare at her friend. Turning a shade of pink that rivaled her hair color, Sakura felt an uncomfortable uneasiness as her heart thumped fast in her chest.

_Huh…?_

She noticed how Ino’s whole body seemed to rise and fall with laughter. When she finally collected herself, Ino wiped a small tear from her eye and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. Sakura stared at her bug-eyed, as Ino’s seemed to move in slow motion. With her bangs tucked behind her ear, Ino flashed her friend a smirk and gestured towards the vodka, “You gonna drink that or just splash it all over yourself?”

_That smirk…_

_…_

_What am I-_

 Sakura’s daze was interrupted when Sai decided to squeeze in next to her on the bottom bunk.  What comfortable space there were for two people to sit on the edge of the bed was gone and Sakura had to scoot impossibly close to Ino to make room for Sai, who was now pressed against her to her right. Sakura noticed how her thigh brushed against Ino’s, and with no wiggle room to move it, felt her cheeks burn with blush. When Ino wasn’t talking to Sai with her hands and let them rest in her lap, her shoulder touched Sakura’s. Each slight brush burned in Sakura’s mind, leaving her more confused by this sudden pull she felt towards Ino. With the bottle still in front of her, Sakura took another swig, hoping to cloud her mind from whatever she was thinking about towards her best friend…

* * *

The gang stumbled back to their cabins well past Iruka’s 10pm curfew, some leaving more inebriated than others. Sakura woke up the following morning with a piercing headache, which was well-deserved from the amount of vodka she consumed. Something about last night left her feeling confused and slightly unsettled, but she tried to move past that as she brought her shower caddy and new clothes to the bathrooms, located about five minutes away. The bathrooms themselves where small, offering not much in the way of privacy with only a plastic shower curtain covering each stall. Sakura, who was used to a similar bathroom set up in her dorm, felt completely normal slipping on a pair of shower shoes and stepping into the frigid water. Once dried off and changed, Sakura finished getting herself ready before dropping her old clothes and caddy off at her cabin and heading for the morning training session.

As the staff filed into the wooden benches outside of the main cabin, Gai handed everyone a flier of the day’s agenda. Sakura scanned the agenda to find that safety training was next after a camp tour. A small asterisk next to the line for the 8:30 camp tour directed her attention to the bottom of the paper, where the asterisk noted that Ino and Sakura were to meet Nurse Shizune instead of the 8:30 tour to prepare for safety training at 9:30. Sakura nodded to herself before folding the paper when Kakashi cleared his throat.

He wore a tie-dye shirt, cut-off jean shorts and- _Oh god-_ Birkenstocks. Gai was the next most obscenely dressed, wearing a tie-dye muscle shirt and tight gym shorts. Yamato wore a slightly baggy shirt, also tie-dye, and modest kkhaki shorts. Iruka looked the most normal, aside from the Camp Konoha fanny pack he had on.

Kakashi, unaware of how ridiculous he looked, waved a copy of the agenda in the air, “I’m confident you all can read over this and be where you need to be _on time_.” The last two words seemed to be directed at Naruto, who squirmed in embarrassment. Kakashi explained that the camp tour would give them an update on the camp facilities and a better sense of where everything was. They then had safety training, time to make a flag for their cabin, lunch, and then they would meet the staff from Camp Suna across the lake. There were some murmurs of confusion at this remark, so Kakashi explained further, “Camp Suna is a newer camp and because of that, they are pretty small. They reached out to see if we could team up to do some activities together and share facilities.”

Naruto shot his hand up but spoke before being called on, “And you all just said yes? Seems like they are freeloading.”

Yamato placed a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder and gave a breathless chuckle, “You _could_ say that, but our boss is actually looking to buy out Camp Suna, so she is using this opportunity to see how they run as a camp and what kind of campers they bring in. As you know, there are some people who strongly dislike our camp that might be drawn to a camp with a different name.”

It took Naruto a moment before he nodded in understanding.

Kakashi continued, “Regardless, you will treat them as your fellow staff members. We will intermingle frequently, sharing lunch and dinners, sharing our aquatic sports equipment, and even going head-to-head in a Konoha vs Suna field day near the end of camp. So, play nice or else we’ll make you play nice. Got it?” Kakashi’s tone went from deadly to happy in a single breath. The Konoha staff nodded unanimously.

With that, Kakashi, Yamato, Gai and Iruka broke into groups of two to conduct the camp tour. Sakura and Ino, the two instructed to stay behind, headed towards the infirmary to meet Nurse Shizune. As they entered the infirmary, they found a small, kind looking woman sitting behind the front desk. Nurse Shizune greeted both them with a smile and stood up from her seat behind the front desk to shake their hands.

“Sakura, Ino, It’s great to meet both of you. I’m very excited to have both of you here in charge of first aid. I’m sure you know that the craziest things happen once the nurse has left for the day.” Shizune laughed, and the two gave a nervous laugh in return.

Shizune gave them a tour of the infirmary, which was nothing more than a school nurse’s office. There was a small room with an examination table to treat more serious injuries. By the front desk was a first aid station: band-aids, gauze, cold packs, anti-itch cream, etc. Shizune pointed towards a chalk board by the front desk, “I’ll be here Monday thru Friday from about 8:30 till 5pm. After dinner until 9:30pm, one of you has to be here in case of injuries. Call me or for an ambulance if there’s a serious emergency. After those hours and during the weekends, the other person will leave their cabin number here so any campers in need of first aid know where to go. We will be handing out first aid kits to your fellow staffers but they often get left behind. We’ll also cover some basics, like CPR, for them. As you can tell, money is a little tight so we don’t have a dummy to show the technique with, so would you two be able to demonstrate the basics yourselves?”

Sakura’s eyes widened and she felt her mouth get dry, “Uh…do you want us to do-“

Shizune cut her off with a wave of her hand, “No, you don’t need to do mouth-to-mouth, but show them the proper technique for the chest pumps and the rhythm. They should have been CPR certified within the last 15 months, but I’m certain they all _need_ a refresher. Would you be able to do it?”

Ino was quick to answer, “Certainly.” She jabbed an elbow at Sakura, “But _I_ get to be the one to do the CPR; you get to be the dummy.”

Sakura shouldn’t have blushed at that comment, yet here she was, palms sweaty and cheeks tinted pink. _It’s just a training exercise, calm down._

The time for their little demonstration came too quickly for Sakura and she felt a little dizzy as she lied down on the examination table that Shizune had positioned so that the staff could all see the technique at once. Ino, who stood behind the table, waited patiently for Shizune’s cue. Once told so, Ino placed her hands in the middle of Sakura’s chest and demonstrated gently the correct rhythm of compressions. Sakura closed her eyes, too embarrassed to see Ino’s hands on her chest.

_What the hell is wrong with me?_ Sakura’s thoughts seemed to scream out in the darkness. _Ino is my friend-my BEST friend….why would I-_

“And now you would open the patient’s mouth and breath in as so…” Sakura heard Shizune say.

Ino gently opened Sakura’s mouth, which caused Sakura to open her eyes suddenly. She watched as Ino’s face approached, stopping so that her lips hovered just a few inches from Sakura’s.

_….uh._

_…..UH._

And within seconds, Ino removed her hands from Sakura’s face and positioned them back at her chest to show the technique once again. Shizune then asked for questions from the staff, which Lee immediately fired off a few about the whole procedure. Ino offered Sakura a hand to help her up off the table, which Sakura took timidly. She jumped back to her feet, standing next to Ino and Shizune as she finished answering Lee’s question. With that, the group was dismissed and sent to the arts center to design a cabin flag. Sakura prayed to herself that Ino hadn’t noticed her quickened heartbeat, that thumped so loudly Sakura thought the whole camp staff could hear it.

Ino had noticed, but simply smiled to herself at the realization.

* * *

Camp flags were made, with Sai’s being the most elegant and artful. To no one’s surprise, Kiba’s was barely legible as “Cabin 7”. Lunch, which was a tuna sandwich and vegetable medley spooned from a can, was anti-climatic for most. For Naruto, he was able to get Sasuke to engage in a casual conversation; the conversation was short and Sasuke offered barely more than a two-word response but Naruto was thankfully just to still be on speaking terms. Following lunch, the camp staff was to meet the Camp Suna at their main cabin. As they approached, Shikamaru nudged Sai in the arm to get his attention, “ _That’s_ their whole staff? Eight people?”

Sai counted the number of the Suna staff waiting for them at wooden benches, similar to their own in front of the main cabin. “Yes, eight. Two of which look as if the grim reaper is their next expected visitor.”

Choji, Shikamaru, and Naruto all let out a surprised chuckled at Sai’s comment.  The Konoha camp staff filled in the benches behind the Suna staff, and one man who introduced himself as Baki stood at the main cabin’s steps, “Welcome, everyone. Camp Konoha, thank you for agreeing to collaborate with our camp. As you can see, we are much smaller but we make up for that by offering unique camp activities. Now, to introduce the rest of the staff.” Baki informed each of his staff members to staff and turn to face their guests, “First, Chiyo is in charge of our infirmary and Ebizo helps assist. Gaara runs the camp greenhouse and teaches nature science classes. Temari is in charge of physical sports, such as archery, pole vaulting, and hatchet throwing. Kankuro here is in charge of the art program and specializes in woodworking. Maki teaches sewing classes and Sasori runs the theatre program, but focuses mainly on puppetry. We here at Camp Suna pride ourselves on the unique camp experience we can offer.”

Iruka, who watched in shock and horror at the idea of ten years learning how to throw a hatchet, scratched nervously at his nape.

Kakashi stood up and approached Baki, standing at his side. “Well, thank you all for an introduction. I would now like to introduce our staff. Get comfortable, this might take a while.” And one by one, Kakashi introduced the staff and spoke on their role and specialty, making for a wordy speech. Once he finished, he turned his attention back to Baki, “Now, I think it’s time for the younger staffers to get to know each other. Ice breakers, anyone?” Kakashi flashed a shit-eating grin towards the counselors who unanimously groaned in annoyance. There was nothing so universally hated as ice breakers. Iruka, eager to do his part as a leader, directed both groups to a large clearing in front of the main cabin. He pointed for everyone to stand around him in a large circle.

Standing with his hands on his hips, Iruka looked completely in charge of the group of 18 counselors. Sakura spotted Kakashi, Gai and Yamato looking on fondly at their boyfriend exerting some authority and it would have been sweet if the three of them weren’t so sappy.

“Alright!” Iruka got everyone’s attention with his sudden outburst, “For today’s icebreaker, we are doing ‘Ride that Pony’ as per request by Kakashi.”

Another unanimous groan from Camp Konoha. Camp Suna staffers seemed unfamiliar, so Iruka demonstrated. Camp Konoha began clapping and Iruka mimed riding a horse, complete with an invisible lasso. As he began to _ride that pony_ around the circle, Camp Konoha sang out the infamous chant: “ _Come on, boy, ride that pony, ride around that big fat pony, come on, boy, ride that pony, this is how we do it.”_ Iruka stopped in front of Shino, much to his dismay, and the second part of the song continued as Shino was forced to mime Iruka’s dance moves, “ _front to front to front, my baby, back to back to back, my baby, side to side to side, my baby, this is how we do it.”_

With that, Iruka switched places with Shino and the song repeated. The Camp Suna staff shot each other extremely confused and disturbed looks, but began to awkwardly clap to the beat. Shino’s dance moves were much less enthusiastic as Iruka’s, and finally he stopped at Lee, who was very eager to join in. After Lee came one of the Suna staff, Kankuro, who looked pissed to be forced to _ride that pony._ As Kankuro trotted his way around the circle, Kiba nudged Hinata to his left and whispered in her ear as he passed them, “Kinda cute.” Hinata, still clapping, looked at Kiba with a surprised look. Once Kankuro stopped in front of Shikamaru, who looked equally as annoyed, Hinata got a good look at Kankuro from across the ring. He was a lot taller than both her and Kiba and seemed to be a little bit older. With the sunlight beaming down on them, Hinata noticed a series of piercings on Kankuro: four or five on each ear and even a septum piercing. To make him stick out even more, Kankuro wore purple makeup and nearly all black, making Kiba wonder if he was immune to the heat. As more and more people got pulled in to trot around the group, Kiba kept his eyes glued to Kankuro, occasionally looking away when his gaze was returned. At once, his view across the ring was obstructed by Naruto standing in front of him, forcing him to be up next. Naruto and Kiba did their mirrored dance, but Naruto’s excitement was infectious and as it was Kiba’s turn to _ride that pony_ , he did so at a break neck pace, eyes still glancing at Kankuro whenever possible.

Kiba paid zero attention to the ground until his foot caught on a rock, tripping him and sending him into the ring. Unable to process that he tripped, Kiba’s arms continued to flail as he crashed into Shino. Kiba knocking into him wasn’t bad, but Kiba’s ‘imaginary lasso’ wrangling fist punched Shino right in the nose. Shino stumbled backwards, adjusting his glasses when a stream of blood came running down his nose. Iruka quickly ran over, motioning for Sakura and Ino to help. Kiba, now back on two feet with arms at his side, was completely frantic, “Fuck, Shino, I am _so_ sorry, buddy.”

Shino, who looked more annoyed than injured, waved him off, “It’s not your fault you have a single brain cell. Sakura, Ino, you have anything to stop the bleeding?”

Sakura nodded and reached for the first aid kit she had in her bag. She handed him some tissues and told him to pinch the bridge of his nose. Shino obliged, removing his sunglasses to do so.

The ice breaker ring had collapsed, and Kakashi and Baki agreed that it was best to focus on camp tours and less physical ice breakers. Shikamaru, Lee and Tenten were instructed to give Temari a tour of the aquatics center, archery range and obstacle course in return for a tour of the Suna athletics centers. Gaara gave Kiba and Shino a tour of the greenhouse. Sai and Hinata showed Kankuro, Maki and Sasori the arts center. It may have been awkward at first, but both camps slowly started to feel more comfortable around each other, even starting to crack jokes with one another; It didn’t take long for both Camp Suna and Camp Konoha to share in the fun of calling Kiba “Pony Boy” or “Slugger” for the remainder of the day.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Next chapter will finish up staff training and then introduce camp move-in day! New chapters uploaded every 4 days!


	3. staff training part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Camp Suna starts to intermingle more with the staff of Camp Konoha, Temari finds herself stuck in a mind game with Shikamaru, while Gaara studies mushrooms and Kankuro gets his face licked.

Shikamaru, Lee and Tenten stood off to the side as they waited for Temari to join them for her tour of Camp Konoha’s aquatics and recreation centers. As she approached, Shikamaru took a brief moment to study her face, as if it would reveal details about her personality to him. He found that she was tense, eyebrows furrowed in either annoyance or anger…. _or both,_ he thought. Her blonde hair was pulled into four impossible looking ponytails that he figured would look utterly ridiculous on most, except there was this overwhelming sense of confidence which Temari exuded that could make a potato sack look form-fitting and effortless. Shikamaru was intrigued by her aura, if not a little taken back by her cocky nature. _I wonder how easy it would be to push her buttons…._

Temari approached with a slight wave and Tenten reintroduced their small group. She took the lead, trotting off towards Camp Konoha, which made Shikamaru groan at the near jog she was making them follow. Lee asked Temari nearly a million questions, on everything from Camp Suna’s flip-flop policy to which of her brothers she liked better. After asking his last question regarding her pudding preferences, Tenten had the group pause in front of the aquatics center. Shikamaru, with hands stuffed in his shorts pockets, stood in front of the group to introduce the aquatics program he was in charge of. The “aquatics center” was nothing more than a dock, a lifeguard post, a large inflatable obstacle course that hadn’t been installed yet, and a canoe storage shed.

Shikamaru, out of the prying eye of Kakashi, brought his vape to his lips and took a hit, “So, this is the aquatics center. Better known by it’s former name ‘water sports’ which was changed for obvious reasons.” Temari rolled her eyes at that. Shikamaru took another puff of vape, and the cool cloud left his nostrils, “We have certified lifeguards on our staff that must be on duty anytime even a toe hits the water. It’s a drag but at least we actually teach our campers to swim…” His voice trailed off as he put his vape back into his pocket.

Temari raised her brow, “Was that a diss at _my_ camp?” She crossed her arms against her chest and ended in a pose so strikingly similar to Shikamaru’s mother.

Shikamaru let a shy grin escape his control. _That’s one button pushed._ He simply shrugged his shoulders and spoke in a flat, bored tone, “Kinda defeats the purpose of having a camp at a lake if you don’t teach them how to swim. Do you teach them to _hatchet_ their way out of drowning?”

Shikamaru half-expected Temari to charge towards him and throttle him, and he would be lying to say he wasn’t intrigued by the tantalizing thought. One glance in Temari’s eyes revealed this fuming rage was boiling inside of her, but to his surprise, Temari had an iron-clad grip on her emotions. She simply threw her head back and laughed at Shikamaru, “You think we’d accept campers that don’t already know how to swim? We don’t have time to _waste_ on something as trivial as that.” With that, Temari spiked the ball back into Shikamaru’s court. He couldn’t care less about the aquatics center or his job, but to have her so quickly shut down his mind game was infuriating. A master of concealing his emotions himself, Shikamaru huffed and continued on his way towards the recreational center, with the other three falling just behind.

The trek to the recreational center, which was nothing more than a small archery range and a ropes obstacle course, brought them along a path through the woods. Tenten, who had been rambling on about the difficulties of their obstacle course to Temari, who politely nodded with feigned attention, slammed into Lee’s back who had stopped abruptly in front of her. With a loud _oof!,_ Tenten fell to the forest floor. Lee quickly turned around and helped Tenten up, spouting apologies as he went. Once on her feet, Tenten rubbed her back where she was knocked down on, “What the hell was that, Lee?!”

Lee pointed towards a tree off to the right side of the trail. Temari, Tenten and Shikamaru followed his finger to find a small clump of mushrooms growing at the base of the tree. On top of each mushroom were pores filled with a red, gooey looking substance that seemed to _bleed_ out of the mushroom.

“Ew what the _fuck_ , Lee?” Tenten gagged, looking away from the tree.

Lee ignored her question and bolted towards the tree, stopping to crouch down in front of the bleeding fungus, “I’ve never seen anything like it! A mushroom with blood!”

Temari flashed a glance towards Shikamaru, waiting to see if he would spout off an asshole comment at everything or just her, but found him vaping again with complete ambivalence. She then focused her attention back at Lee, who remained ogling the specimen. She sighed before speaking up, “If you’d like, you could bring a piece to my brother Gaara. He knows _everything_ about plants so I’m sure he could tell you why it looks like….that.”

Lee flashed her a bright smile and a thumbs up, “I shall do that! Thank you, Temari!” He carefully removed a smaller growth of mushroom, careful to not damage the rest of the organism. Lee waited for a moment, expecting to see the mushroom shoot blood out like a ruptured artery but was disappointed when nothing happened. Nevertheless, Lee took his mushroom and ran back in the direction of Camp Suna’s greenhouse.

* * *

Once all of the groups had left in separate directions to give their respective tours, Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Naruto with a folded sheet of vinyl in his hand and a spool of twine in the other. He gave the pair one of his fake smiles while handing them the vinyl and twine, “You two can hang up the Camp Konoha and Suna banners in the mess hall. It will make the place feel a little cozier.”

Sasuke peaked a confused eyebrow, but accepted by taking the twine roll. Naruto nodded with a beaming grin before taking the banners and turning to walk with Sasuke.  There was a pause while the two fell into step with one another; Sasuke’s gaze remained fixated on his feet as they walked. After a few minutes, Naruto shattered the silence abruptly, “Why did you want to be a camp counselor, Sasuke?”

Picking his gaze up from the ground, Sasuke gave Naruto a quick glance before staring at the green twine in his hands. _Because of you, dumbass,_ Sasuke thought selfishly. As for his external response, Sasuke simply shrugged, “The pay was decent.”

Naruto nodded, slightly disappointed by the blunt nature of his response. “Well, I agree with that. But to me, it’s more than that. I want to be a role model for some kid, someone that they can turn to like an older brother figure. Kakashi and Iruka were like that for me when I was here. If I could be half as awesome as either of them, then I would have turned out alright, ya’know? I just want them to feel like they are apart of this wacky camp family, no matter what life is like when they get home.”

Sasuke’s eyes flashed to Naruto’s face and saw a new wave of maturity wash over Naruto. Sure, he was still as dumb as ever, but it was apparent that Naruto wasn’t the same spiky haired brat he was when they were 12 years old. Naruto, noticing his stare, beamed at Sasuke with a smile bright enough to outshine the sun. There was something comforting about Naruto’s compassion and Sasuke had to force his attention away from the effervescent embodiment of positivity to his right and back at the grass he crushed under his feet with each passing step.

It didn’t take long for them to hang the posters up, getting Choji and the rest of the cooking staff’s approval that the signs were level. Naruto stood back to help, noticing how the edge of Sasuke’s shirt rode up slightly as he hoisted the banners up, revealing a faint glimpse at his toned stomach. Choji took notice of Naruto’s stares and nudged his ribs with a jab of his elbow, which promptly removed Naruto from his dreamlike gaze.

* * *

Rock Lee approached the Suna greenhouse at a breakneck pace, flinging the wooden door open fast enough to make both Shino and Gaara turn around to stare at the entrance. He continued his pursuit until he stood right in front of the red head and presented the mushroom to him, “I found this peculiar mushroom on my walk to the recreation center. Temari said you might be able to tell me why it’s bleeding!”

Gaara took the mushroom in his hands and studied it with an attentive eye, “It’s _Hydnellum peckii,_ the ‘bleeding tooth fungus’.”

Lee placed a hand on Gaara’s shoulder, which made Gaara’s face turn with disgusted confusion. Ignoring this, Lee continued on, “That’s amazing but why is it bleeding?” Once Lee removed his encouraging hand from his shoulder, Gaara visibly relaxed.

“It’s not blood. This fungus has closed stomatas so the droplets of ‘blood’ are simply the result of building pressure causing the guttation to seep out. The red pigment,” Gaara touched one of the ruby spots with a delicate touch, transferring the droplet to his finger for closer study, “is an anticoagulant-it stops blood from clotting. The fungus is not poisonous, but I do not recommend ingesting it.”

When Gaara finished, he shifted his attention from the _Hydnellum_ to Rock Lee who stared back with wide eyes and an undeniable sparkle in them. Lee took the fungus to rotate and study it in his hands, just as Gaara had done, “You really are smart, Gaara! Very impressive!”

There was a shift in Gaara’s demeanor as his shoulders seemed to drop a few inches and his voice fell to a near whisper, “Would you show me where you found the mushroom after dinner? I would like to show one of my nature classes the organisms.”

Shino, who had been standing off to the side to observe a potato bug, looked over Gaara’s shoulder to see Lee’s face. He took notice of a rosy shade of blush tinging his friend’s cheeks as he nodded in excitement over their mini-adventure that night. Returning his attention to the potato bug, Shino made a mental note to keep an ear out for any gossip revolving these two.

* * *

After some time, the touring groups reconvened at the Suna main cabin. It was just about an hour till dinner and an overall feeling of exhaustion was palpable. Back at the front of the group was Kakashi, who happily clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention, “Welcome back, everyone. Hope your tours were _fascinating_.” His tone was dry and rife with sarcasm. Iruka smacked him lightly on the arm and he continued, “Right, so before dinner, we would like you all to participate in another ice breaker. Gai, why don’t you explain this one?” Kakashi stepped back to allow Gai to stand in front of the crowd (though it was obvious to Sakura that Kakashi just wanted a view of Gai’s ass in his cut-off shorts).

“Certainly, Kakashi!” Gai stood with his chest puffed out, dripping with an overwhelming sense of confidence. Out of the corner of Gaara’s eyes, he noticed Lee straightened his posture to match Gai’s.   
Gai nodded to Yamato and Iruka who began to hand out bandanas to everyone. “In the game of hog call, you all will be paired with a partner. Each pairing needs to create a hog call so that once you are blindfolded and set loose in the grassy field, you can find your way back to each other. I expect to see youth and passion in your hog calls!” Gai finished by flashing the counselors a blinding grin and a thumbs up, which Lee returned.

Kakashi, pulling his gaze up from Gai’s backside, cleared his throat and spoke up, “Now, the number of Konoha counselors is far greater than Suna counselors but lets try to get some intermingling of groups. In fact, I have assigned some of my staff with the Suna staff. Gaara, I’m pairing you up with Neji since you both are quiet.” Kakashi looked at Neji quickly and lowered his voice, “Let’s work on that, okay?” The only recognition Neji offered was the slightest nod of his head, so Kakashi continued, “Kankuro and Sai, you two are crafty so you should pair up. Sasori and Sakura, and Shikamaru and Temari will make up the next two groups because all four of you seem hard-headed. Maki, you will pair up with Kiba. Please try to keep him from giving someone else a bloody nose.”

Both camp staffs, aside from a defensive Kiba, let out a soft chuckle. The other camp staffers found their own partners. Naruto spotted Choji waving to him from across the lawn but before he could run off to him, a hand clutching the back of his shirt kept him immobile. Looking back, Naruto found Sasuke tugging sharply on his shirt.

“Sasuke-?” Naruto questioned, turning around to face the man in question.

Sasuke let go of Naruto’s shirt with a _tch_ , “I’ve already told you I don’t like anyone else here. If I have to do this stupid game, there’s no way I’m pairing up with one of _them.”_

Naruto blinked a few times before giving Sasuke another one of his signature blinding smiles. “Alright! But I get to pick our hog call!”

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke shot Naruto a regretful stare, “I swear to god-“

“RAMEN!” Naruto bellowed, fists flying up into the air with excitement.

Sasuke shook his head, “If that’s seriously the word you expect me to shout, then I’m going to throw myself into Kiba’s fists and hope it knocks me out long enough for this to be over with.” Naruto, not understanding the sincerity of Sasuke’s comment, simply laughed and placed the folded bandana over with eyes.

Iruka, Yamato and Gai herded the blindfolded counselors towards a starting point. Sasuke reluctantly tugged his blindfold over his eyes, cursing how ridiculous this game was to Sakura at his side. Gai shouted for everyone to start walking away from the starting point, shattering everyone in opposite directions. Finally, a blow of his whistle initiated the game and individuals began to shout out their special hog call for their partner. With so many people playing, the sound of random shouting was infuriating and Sasuke found his patience for the stupid game wearing thin.

_I just need to wait for Naruto to yell and get this over with._

_Wait._

_The sooner we find each other, the sooner this ends._

With his competitive side mixing with his utter disgust of ice breakers, Sasuke became determined to find Naruto as quickly as possible. He breathed in sharply, preparing his lungs for the sudden outburst they were about to experience.

“ ** _RAAAAMMEEEEENNNN!”_**

All shouts ceased briefly as all the other groups looked around, although still blindfolded, with confusion. The only other sound was the muffled laughter of Kakashi and Iruka chiding him for laughing at a staff member. Naruto himself was a bit taken back, but the glass shattering yell seemed to echo in the valley. He knew exactly where Sasuke was and quickly found himself running. The other groups began their hog calls again.

Naruto ran up to Sasuke, arms outstretched as he placed his hands on Sasuke’s shoulder. “Ramen?” he questioned.

Sasuke huffed, “Ramen.”

Naruto couldn’t contain himself as he roared with laughter, “You sounded like an idiot back there.”  When Naruto took off his blind fold, he noticed Sasuke was turning a dark shade of pink, though he wrote this off as embarrassment from yelling so loud. Sasuke knew that was only half of the story as he still felt the sensation of Naruto’s hands resting on his shoulders long after Naruto had removed them.

Sasuke and Naruto sat off to the side to watch the rest of the groups try to find one another. Gaara and Neji spoke only at a normal, conversational volume yet where the next group to find each other. Temari and Shikamaru followed shortly after (Shikamaru remained in one place the entire time, forcing Temari to find him instead). The last group to finish was Tenten and Hinata, as Hinata refused to raise her voice above its usual soft, whisper-like volume. Once all the groups had finished the ice breaker, Kakashi announced it was time for dinner and the crowd of camp staffers descended upon the communal mess hall.

Gaara found himself gravitating towards Lee, though he told himself it was only so they could leave together for their after-dinner mushroom hunt. Temari was invited to sit with Ino, Sakura, Tenten and Hinata, which was a welcomed change of pace from eating with her brothers. The conversation was friendly, with everyone de-briefing Temari on where they went to school or worked and vice-versa. Temari quickly picked up on Hinata and Tenten dating and before her brain could stop her mouth from moving, quietly asked the group, “Is there any interesting gossip going on at Camp Konoha? Obviously, my staff is about 50% my brothers so there’s nothing exciting that I don’t already know about.”

Ino flashed Temari a grin, “Our higher-ups are all in a relationship together if you couldn’t tell already. It’s actually really sweet. Other than that, I don’t think there’s much else going on.”

Temari leaned back in her chair and stared over at Shikamaru, who was standing up from the other table. He headed outside with a hand in his pocket, presumably holding his vape. Temari brought her attention back to her own table, “What about that Shikamaru guy? What the hell is his deal?”

Ino’s face curled into a devilish grin, the excitement of gossip building up inside her. Yet, she remained cool, “What about him? He likes to get into people’s heads, figure out what makes them tick. He’s a genius with the motivation of a cold ham sandwich. Why do you ask, Temari?” Ino leaned forward across the table, her grin turning into a shit-eating smile, “You don’t happen to _like_ him, do you?”

“Oh please,” Temari let out a sharp laugh, “I have zero interest in crushing on another camp counselor. Besides, he’s a pompous ass that’s not worth my time.”

Ino nodded, but a hint of a smirk remained on her face. Temari put up a tough wall, but Ino could see through the cracks of her façade just as easily as Shikamaru.

* * *

Kankuro and Sasori sat with the rest of the Konoha counselors, and Kiba noticed his heart beat pick up as Kankuro slid into the bench directly across from him. Akamaru, who had been laying under the table, crawled under the bench and popped up on Kankuro’s side of the table.

Kankuro turned to pet the dog’s head, but Akamaru jumped up on his hind legs and began to lick Kankuro’s face. Kiba, mortified, snapped his fingers, “Akamaru, you can’t just jump on people like that!”

Kankuro gave a hearty chuckle as the dog continued to ignore Kiba and lick his face with excitement, “It’s alright, he’s just happy to meet me, I guess. Akamaru, you said?” Kankuro turned his attention to Kiba as he continued to pet Akamaru.

_Fucking shit, he’s cute,_ Kiba thought, unable to take his eyes off the guy across from him. “Yeah, his name is Akamaru. I’ve never seen him warm up to a stranger so quickly before but then again, he’s too much of a softie to be a big, scary guard dog anyways.”

Akamaru finally sat back down on the ground as Kankuro continued to scratch behind his ears, “He’s cute. Kinda reminds me of Amaterasu from _Okami.”_

Kiba’s face lit up, “Oh yeah? I love that game.”

Kankuro returned a grin, “You’ve got great taste. What other games do you like?”

The two of them, shut off from the other conversations around them, continued to talk one-on-one. Kankuro was surprised to find out just how much they had in common, from weird vintage horror flicks to watching compilations of news reporter fails.

One particular joke Kankuro told sent Kiba into a laughing fit, causing him to instinctively kick under the table. He landed a sharp kick right to Kankuro’s shin, making him wince from the painful impact.   
“Jesus, Kiba, I might have to change your nickname from Sluggar to fucking Lead Foot.” The sight of Kiba rolling his eyes made Kankuro laugh, distracting him from the inevitable bruise forming on his leg.

“For fucks sake, not _you too.”_ Kiba huffed, arms folded across his chest in annoyance, making Kankuro laugh even harder.

_He’s cute when he’s flustered_ , Kankuro thought as he wiped away the tears formed from his fit of laughter, _I might just have to tease him more often…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait on this chapter! It's a little bit between points in the story so it was a struggle to write. Next chapter will jump to the end of the week when the campers move in!


	4. camper move-in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Shikamaru and Temari discuss vices and societal pressure, Naruto fakes his own death to get Sasuke's attention.

As staff training week came to an end, a sense of anxiety and anticipation seemed to fester in the air. Some of the camp Konoha staff, such as Lee, Sakura and Choji, were bubbling with excitement at the prospect of camper move-in day finally being here, while Hinata, Naruto, and Sai silently doubted their abilities to be good camp counselors. Sai, whose nervousness didn’t show explicitly on his face, confided in Ino the previous night that he wasn’t good at interacting with kids (or most adults). Ino, who was later joined by Sakura, sat on the steps of Sai’s cabin and talked well into the night. The pair shared advice on talking to kids and did their best to calm their friend’s nerves. Early the next day, before they were supposed to meet up to be stationed for move-in, Sakura and Ino met Sai at his cabin to walk with him. Their late-night talk seemed to relax him for the time being and the pair smiled at each other for this small accomplishment.

Seeing all her fellow camp counselors in their “Camp Konoha Staff” ringer tees and green, vintage-looking gym shorts brought back a wave of nostalgia for Sakura. Ino also felt that same nostalgia, but her mind at the moment was occupied by how well Sakura’s pink hair complemented the tacky green and white uniforms.

* * *

Kakashi, Gai, Yamato and Iruka handed out instructions for everyone to make the move-in process as efficient as possible. With approximately 120 campers moving in within the span of two hours, Iruka and Yamato worked to create a game-plan to prevent a total disaster. Hinata, Shino, Neji and Shikamaru were assigned to check the campers in and hand out their camp shirts and other important forms for their parents to look over. Ino was stationed at the infirmary to help nurse Shizune, while Sakura was positioned outside to direct campers towards the cabins. Sasuke, Naruto, Tenten, Choji, Lee and Kiba were designated movers to bring luggage and bags to the cabins. Lastly, Sai was positioned outside of the cabins to help answer any questions while the campers moved in. Once the first dozen campers arrived, Iruka and Yamato sat back in relief that their game plan was working perfectly. The campers, ages 10-13, were a mix of excited and timid, with parents practically dragging their more reluctant children to the check-in table.

Naruto and Sasuke helped move-in two campers who seemed to know each other well; one wore a long scarf despite the sweltering summer heat and the other had a long droplet of snot seeping from his nose. The boy with the seemingly permanent leaky nose was in cabin 10, while his friend with the scarf said he was assigned to cabin 9. Naruto, with the kid’s suitcase and duffel bag in hand, offered him a wide grin, “Hey, you are one of my campers then! My name’s Naruto, and you,” Naruto nodded to the snot-faced kid, “are in Sasuke’s cabin!”

The scarf wearing boy stood with his hands on his hips, “I’m Konohamaru and this is Udon. Counselor Naruto, I wanna be clear with you from the get go.”

Naruto flashed a glance over at Sasuke, who looked away with a slight grin, before nodding, “Uh, okay, what is it?”

Konohamaru puffed his chest out in a failed attempt to look tough, “I’M going to win MVP at the camp games this summer and _you_ can eat my dust!”

Naruto was quick to initiate competition, “Oh yeah? Well jokes on you, _pal_ , it’s been my dream to win MVP at the camp games since I was your age, so nothing’s gonna stop me!” With a fist clenched in determination, Naruto and Konohamaru seemingly mirrored each other. Sasuke chuckled so softly that Naruto wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined it and followed it by rolling his eyes, “You both are dorks. C’mon, Udon.” With that, Sasuke let the camper towards their cabin across the way.

While Konohamaru shouted a retort at Sasuke’s back, Naruto felt his cheeks flush slightly. _When was the last time I’d heard him laugh…?_ Regardless of when, Naruto secretly looked forward to hearing it again.

“I wonder if he’s ticklish….”

Konohamaru paused his shouting to look up at Naruto with confusion, “Huh? Counselor Sasuke?”

Naruto, realizing he was thinking out loud _about his fucking crush,_ shook his head frantically, “Uh-no, nevermind about that, uh, let’s finish moving you in!” With that, Naruto bolted towards his cabin to set down Konohamaru’s luggage.

With the nine other campers settled into cabin 9, Naruto felt a sense of pride seeing the youngsters talking and forming brand new friendships. Konohamaru made his proclamation of his plans to win the summer camp games known to each of his cabin mates, though no one seemed to be intimidated as he had hoped. Finally, Naruto brought his thumb and pointer finger to his lips and let out a sharp whistle that stopped all conversation in the cabin. With the ten boys’ undivided attention, Naruto grabbed his sunglasses from his nightstand and pointed towards the door, “Alright, cabin 9! It’s time to head out for the camp introduction and then we can eat!” A few of the boys let out a unanimous “yeah!” as they followed Naruto out the door. All of the cabins were filing out to head towards the main cabin, and Naruto got sight of Hinata’s cabin excitedly running towards Akamaru to pet him as they walked. Akamaru seemed to love the attention, judging from how frantically his tail wagged back and forth.

At the main cabin, the campers sat by cabin as the counselors stood in line by the main cabin porch. Iruka began the camp introduction, talking at length about the comradery of camp Konoha and the fundamental values of the camp. Yamato politely interrupted Iruka at a natural pause, and introduced the four of them to the campers. Gai flashed a thumbs up when his name was called whereas Kakashi simply nodded in recognition. “Finally,” Yamato began, “Let me introduce all of our camp counselors to you all.”

One by one, Yamato called out a name and briefly stated their position or job at the camp, such as Ino and Sakura being medics. When Lee was called, his entire cabin erupted in shouts and cheers, clearly already big fans of their counselor. With Kiba’s introduction, Yamato also introduced Akamaru, which garnered a wave of ‘aww’s from the crowd. After everyone was mentioned, Yamato dismissed the groups to head to the mess hall for dinner.

* * *

At the mess hall, Sakura and Ino had their groups sit close together so the two of them could talk. Their campers were getting along well, mostly talking amongst themselves except to interrupt Sakura and Ino to ask them a question about themselves (“Do you have a car?” “Do you have a boyfriend?” “Is your hair always that pink?). Once the campers returned their attention to each other again, Ino flashed Sakura a tired smile, “They really like to ask questions, huh?”

Sakura tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, still a little embarrassed by the pink hair question, “Yeah, I guess so. But we were like that at that age. I’ll never forget the night you asked me if I had the world’s largest forehead.” Sakura chuckled slightly as Ino cringed.

“Okay, that was a little mean…but you know what they say, the truth hurts.” Ino shrugged her shoulders with a fake sigh.

“Oh yeah?” Sakura flung a spoonful of peas at Ino, making the both of them laugh. She knew a food fight probably wasn’t the best example for the campers, but she couldn’t be bothered to care at this moment. She noticed how Ino’s eyes seemed softer than usual, and there was a sense of fondness to them that Sakura may have been imagining but even when she blinked or looked away, it was still there. But it was real. Ino watched as Sakura talked to a camper who asked about what she studied at college, seeing Sakura’s face light up as the camper said she also wanted to be a doctor when she grew up. The sight was downright adorable, and Ino felt her hands twitch at the thought of reaching across the table to hold Sakura’s in her own. Above it all, Ino felt weird daydreaming about her closest friend and was thankful when a camper asked her a direct question to pull her away from her thoughts.

* * *

Temari came to dinner late and was forced to take a seat between Gaara and Shikamaru. Before sitting down, she wiped a grease-stained hand on her work shirt. Shikamaru, who’s eyes followed her from the moment she walked into the hall, gave her a smirk, “You always show up late for things?”

After pausing for a moment to contemplate the option of just ignoring him, Temari picked up her drink and took a long sip, not breaking eye contact with Shikamaru. “Actually, I was too busy working on installing new targets in our hatchet range to just drop everything and enjoy dinner with _you_.” Despite the harshness of her words, Temari didn’t seem to be upset. This was just another lobby of the ball into Shikamaru’s court. He didn’t nod in acknowledge but simply continued to eat his dinner. Temari, starving from skipping lunch, quickly devoured her food.

After she set down her fork and slid her tray slightly to signify she was done, Shikamaru stood up from his seat at the bench and paused in front of his campers, “I’ll be right back. For the mean time, Counselor Choji is in charge.” He pointed a thumb at Choji working in the kitchen, long hair pulled back into a hair net. Temari’s eyes followed Shikamaru as he walked out of the mess hall, fist clenched around what she assumed was his vape in his pocket. Temari waited a moment before taking her tray to the plate drop-off area and heading outside.

It was getting dark out, but Temari used the floodlights of the mess hall to make her way to the backdoor. There she found Shikamaru leaning against the wooden siding of the building with his vape in hand. He didn’t say or do anything as Temari approached and rested against the building next to him.

“Fresh air?” Temari asked, staring ahead at the forest edge.

Shikamaru grunted in response, taking a slow drag on his vape.

“This is probably a stupid question, but I take it vape isn’t the only thing you smoke? What else is there? Weed? Cigarettes.” Temari’s voice seemed slightly annoyed, but she was mainly curious to figure out what his deal was.

“Yes. Of course. And only when I’m having a particularly shitty day.” Shikamaru droned, apathy dripping in his voice.

There was a long pause before Temari spoke up again, “Why do you smoke so much? What constitutes a ‘shitty day’ for you?” Her questions were blunt, not with ignorance but with a exact focus to get right to the root of the issue.

Shikamaru took a pause, letting the crying drones of cicadas fill the silence in between the clouds of vapor that left his lips. With a sigh, Shikamaru tipped his head upwards to look at the night sky peeking through the tree line, “Trying to ease the mountain on my shoulders.”

Temari turned her head to study his face. He always maintained a tight control on his facial expression, usually blank-faced, bored, or irritated, but now he looked different. Remorseful. Her eyes glanced over the rest of his face, highlighted by the distant floodlight and peeks of moonlight. He surely wasn’t bad to look at, and she became increasingly interested in the thought of seeing him with his hair down from his spiky updo. And yet, she couldn’t get over his personality and the way he seemed to have it out for her, to want to analyze her despite being mere acquaintances. Once she got all the details she could from his face, Temari spoke up again, “Care to dive a little deeper? I’ll answer whatever burning question you have for me tomorrow after dinner.”

Shikamaru snickered, “That sounds like a fair trade. Well to start, I grew up a child genius. Yeah, I know, you can roll your eyes all you want but it’s true. I got full-ride academic scholarship for college, got into the Honors college program, heard my parents say they were proud of me for the first time the day of freshmen move-in. My parents are strict, my mother especially, and they expect the best from me given my talents…” He paused to take a drag of his vape, “But I couldn’t fucking care less about school. Last summer I did an internship at a tech and development company, learning actually useful skills. My mentor, Asuma, taught me how to use my brain for something more than just memorizing the lifecycle of a cell or the timeline events of WWII. How to apply what I know to developing tech. Last summer…” His sentence trailed off and Temari could sense the tension building up in him. Instinctively, she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed slightly, a way to reassure him to go on. Finally, he spoke again, “Last summer on my last day of work I saw my mentor get killed in a hit-and-run. So _that’s_ why I smoke so much. I don’t know how a person would go on living without relieving some of that tension.”

This brief glimpse of vulnerability was important for Temari to see, as it showed her the human side of him. She gave him one more squeeze on his shoulder before staring back towards the forest. “I’m sorry about your loss, but I appreciate you telling me. You are starting to make sense to me.”

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, “Oh yeah?”

Temari had the faintest sign of a smile, “Yeah. Makes me hate your company a little less. Here.” She deftly nabbed the vape pen from Shikamaru’s hand and brought it to her lips, taking a long drawn out inhale of the vapor, trying not to think about the indirect contact of their lips on the shared pen. Shikamaru watched as she held the vapor for a few seconds before letting a cloud of smoke escape her breath. He felt a sudden dryness to his throat at the sight, seeing her suddenly acting so cool and suave. She handed the vape back to him, “I might need to use that tomorrow if we are unloading my shit-show of a past. Two words: shitty father.”

Shikamaru nodded, putting the pen back into his pocket. His eyes followed her as she left to go back inside the mess hall, leaving him alone with a brand new kind of tension to deal with

* * *

The following morning, Naruto managed to drag himself and his ten campers out of bed, to the bathroom to get ready for the day and to the mess hall for breakfast. The first activity on their list was arts & crafts with Sai and his campers. The Konoha arts center was a large wooden building that had a small stage for theatre productions and several foldable tables and chairs for art classes. Sai explained to the two groups that today they would design signs with their names on it to go on their bunks. He showed off an example he had made, which featured his name in calligraphy surrounded by intricate black and white animals and vines. Naruto helped by passing out the construction paper and various other supplies, including a tube of glitter that instantly coated the entirety of the arts center. After about an hour, most of the signs were finished; the majority were crude scribbles compared to Sai’s masterpiece. Once everyone had finished, Naruto escorted them back to their cabins, 9 and 13, to hang up their signs while Sai cleaned up for the next group of campers. Naruto led both his and Sai’s groups to their next activity: swimming.

The inflatable obstacle course hadn’t been installed yet but there was plenty of space to swim around and cool off by the lake. To Naruto’s surprise, Sasuke was the on-duty lifeguard. He sat at his post wearing the staff ringer tee, black swim trunks, and black sunglasses despite being covered by a large umbrella. Hoping that Sasuke’s eyes behind his sunglasses were on him, Naruto slowly took off his staff shirt and tossed it to the side with his backpack. Sasuke, taking his eyes off the lake for a brief moment, wished he could burn the image into his retinas. Naruto’s shoulders were broad, speckled with a scattering of freckles just barely visible on his tanned skin. His stomach was toned, bordering on ripped, which made sense considering the number of times he had skipped class for the gym. A camper cannonballing off the dock ripped his attention away from Naruto and back towards his actual job. _Fucking Christ, you idiot._ Sasuke cursed himself, feeling his shirt sticking to newly damped skin.

Naruto wasn’t done toying with Sasuke’s attention. Instead, he jumped into the cool lake water far away from the campers and began to flail around, splashing water around him. He bobbed his head under the water and then resurfaced, gasping for breath and shouting “Help! Help!”. With a shot of adrenaline, Sasuke descended from his lifeguard post and ran along the dock to where Naruto had isolated himself before diving into the water. Within seconds, Sasuke had grabbed Naruto and tugged him to the dock. The campers, who watched in shock and horror, started to approach Sasuke. After getting Naruto on his back on the dock’s edge, Sasuke turned and shouted for the campers to back away.

When Sasuke returned his attention back to Naruto, he lowered his ear to his chest to check for breathing. A wet lock of Sasuke’s hair brushed against Naruto’s nose, causing him to giggle.

“Naruto-! You are fine?” Sasuke asked, panting slightly from the thrill. The blond kept his eyes closed and gritted through his teeth to whisper, “You aren’t doing the proper protocol. You have to do CPR.”

Sasuke looked behind him to see that while the campers had kept their distance, all twenty of them were focused on the two of them. He grunted with annoyance, “Naruto, I’m not going to-“

Konohamaru called out from the crowd of campers, “IS HE DEAD?!”

Naruto fought back a smile, “Guess you’re gonna have to bring me back to life, Sasuke.” With that Naruto practically puckered his lips for him.

Pissed off, Sasuke began chest compressions with enough force to knock the air _back out_ of someone as payback for Naruto’s little prank. After 30 brutal chest compressions, Sasuke pretended to pinch Naruto’s nose and lowered his lips to Naruto’s. Normally he would blow air into the airway, but since the whole thing was fake to begin with, Sasuke simply rested his lips against Naruto’s. It wasn’t exactly a kiss more than it was lips touching each other, yet Sasuke felt his face burn bright red. When Naruto didn’t stir to consciousness, he continued with another 30 reps of bone-crushing chest compressions. Between pumps, Sasuke growled at Naruto, “If you don’t come to soon, I have to call 911 so cut it out.”

Naruto whispered again, “I will, I will.” Yet once the chest compressions ended, Naruto still remained lifeless. This time Sasuke placed his lips to Naruto’s, the blond moved his mouth more, making it feel like a real kiss. Shocked and embarrassed, Sasuke pulled away, forcing Naruto to give up his ruse. He leaned forward and pretended to cough up water. Sasuke sprang to his feet immediately and walked towards his post. The campers still looked worriedly between them.

“He’s going to be fine; just swallowed water when he jumped. Be careful and you won’t end up like _him._ ” Sasuke said from his lifeguard post, and his words were convincing enough for them to get back into the lake. Naruto walked past his post, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“ _Naruto-“_ The sharpness of Sasuke’s voice felt like a dagger in his back. Naruto slowly turned around to look up at him, “We need to talk tonight. After dinner.”

Naruto gulped before faking a smile. He knew Sasuke was probably pissed by this little stunt, and now he offered up a silent prayer that Sasuke wouldn’t murder him beyond recognition after dinner tonight.


	5. forest confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Naruto & Sasuke, what happens in the forest, stays in the forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning: there's a discussion that mentions implied homophobia, so please don't read if that is an issue!

Even with the rest of his afternoon being jam-packed with activities, dinner time came far too quickly for Naruto’s liking. There was an indisputable aura of anger emitting off of Sasuke as he sat with his campers in the farthest corner of the mess hall. Naruto walked his group close to Lee’s table but still positioned himself so he could see Sasuke across the room. Distracted by the ominous vibe Sasuke was giving off, Naruto’s attention snapped back to the camper at his side when he felt a tug on his shirt. A young girl with bright orange hair and a couple other campers that Naruto vaguely recognized as Sakura’s group gave him a timid look.  

“Counselor Naruto, is it true that you almost drowned today?” The young girl with the orange hair spoke for the group.

Naruto sighed, “Yes, but I-“

Before Naruto could finish, Konohamaru stood up from his seat across the table from Naruto and pointed at him, “Counselor Sasuke gave him mouth-to-mouth! They KISSED!” Naruto winced as he glanced over to Sasuke’s direction, who could hear Konohamaru’s shout from across the room and somehow managed to look even more pissed off. The rest of the kids giggled, with some of the young girls exchanging knowing looks with one another.

“Counselor Sasuke saved my life. Swimming can be fun but also deadly, so pay attention out there. Got that, _Konohamaru.”_ Naruto exchanged his friendly counselor voice with one of pure annoyance as he shot Konohamaru a look. Sakura’s campers scurried away as Konohamaru sat back down in his seat, petrified.

_Great,_ Naruto stared down at his plate to push food around with his fork, _as if Sasuke wasn’t pissed off already…._

* * *

Shikamaru and Temari took to their previous spot outside the back of the mess hall. Tonight it was Temari’s turn to open up and she willingly answered all of Shikamaru’s questions about her father, her brothers and what childhood was like for her. They traded off his vape, sending clouds of vapor into the air between each question and answer. Temari let down her hair from its usual complicated updo, complaining of a headache. Shikamaru watched out of the corner of his eye as her blonde locks cascaded down her neck and came to rest just above the v-neckline of her shirt. He felt a little creepy staring at her, but something about the dim light of the full moon, how carefree she looked with her hair down and how openly she talked about the hardest years of her life made her tough girl demeanor slip away for just a moment.

Instead, Temari just looked beautiful to him.

Temari glanced over at him to catch his gaze, “Do I have something on my face or do I just look _radiant in the moonlight?”_ She cooed to tease him further, finishing it off with a hand on her hip and a smirk on her lips.

 Shikamaru forced himself to look away, feigning annoyance, “Yeah, dream on.” He snatched the vape pen from his hand and brought it to his lips, trying not to look back at her and see the shit-eating grin she had plastered on her face. Temari simply laughed at him before moving to head back to the mess hall. After taking a few paces forward, she paused to look back at him.

“Hey, Shikamaru,” She called out, getting his attention again, “what are we going to talk about tomorrow?”

Shikamaru let out a chuckle and a puff of smoke in the same breath, “Worst date stories?”

Temari’s head rolled back with laughter, “Ohhh boy, have I got a few stories for you then. See you tomorrow.” She offered a wave and turned to leave. Shikamaru’s eyes followed her as she walked away before turning to look up at the stars scattering the night sky above him. He watched as a cloud of vapor drifted from his lips and up to the sky, but found the mental image of Temari brimming with laughter clouding his mind instead.

_Fuck._

* * *

Near the end of dinner, Sasuke got up from his seat to walk towards Sakura. He bent down to whisper something in her ear, pointing towards his table of campers. Sakura looked confused but nodded. With that, Sasuke shot Naruto a look from across the room that felt like a dagger being thrown at him. Sasuke headed out the door and Naruto quickly hopped up from his seat. He walked over to Rock Lee and asked him to walk his campers home after dinner. Before Lee could ask why, Naruto quickly scurried out of the mess hall to find Sasuke standing off to the side of the building. Once Naruto caught up to him, Sasuke started off towards the woods behind the mess hall. There was an uncomfortable silence between them; the sound of leaves and branches cracking under their feet and the roar of insect calls suddenly became ear piercing for Naruto.

A few minutes into their walk, Naruto spoke up, “If you plan on killing me in the woods, can you beat Kiba in an arm wrestle for me? I can never seem to win-“

“Shut UP, Naruto.” Sasuke spat, picking up the pace of his walk. Naruto bit his tongue, afraid of saying something stupid to piss him off again. After about ten minutes of walking, Sasuke came to a halt in a small forest clearing. There was a fallen log that Sasuke pointed at for Naruto to sit.

Naruto nodded and sat on the log, hands twisting awkwardly in his lap. There was anger in Sasuke, that much was certain, but he didn’t think Sasuke would hurt him. He was just afraid of being on the receiving end of Sasuke’s shouts.

Sasuke began to pace around, arms folded against his chest. Without stopping to stand still, he began, “I don’t regret that night at Sakura and Ino’s party, just so you know. I took a risk that night,” He paused to stand directly in front of Naruto and stared at him with seething anger, “ _A risk_ , Naruto, because you can’t just assume you know how people feel. It’s clear to me you enjoyed that _kiss_ and want something more from it. I….don’t.”

Naruto opened and closed his mouth a few times, balling his fists up at his sides to relieve whatever emotion it was that was beginning to bubble out of him. He looked up at Sasuke and spoke in a whisper, “Why won’t you be honest with me?”

 

And like that, Sasuke snapped. Tears began to well up in his eyes and yet he lunged forward to grab the front of Naruto’s shirt. Frantically, he wailed, “You don’t get to decide when people confess their feelings!”

Sasuke didn’t let go of his hold on Naruto’s shirt, keeping their faces close together. Naruto studied Sasuke’s face and winced at the pain in his eyes. This wasn’t about them, not truly. It was about a festering emotional wound that Sasuke had let infect his entire being, and this most recent incident was only the trigger that brought it all out to the surface. Sasuke tried to keep his composure, to stop the tears that had begun to trickle down his cheeks to no avail.

“ _Fuck!”_ Sasuke cursed, releasing his grip on Naruto and wiping away a tear with the back of his hand.

 

He hated feeling weak.

 

He hated showing emotions.

 

He hated that he couldn’t just be honest, like Naruto had said.

 

Naruto was on his feet to be eye-level with Sasuke. He placed a hand on Sasuke’s arm, applying just enough pressure to be comforting. “Hey,” Naruto spoke softly, trying so desperately to calm him down, “tell me what you’re feeling right now. All of it. Just let it out.”

With some semblance of composure, Sasuke nodded and sighed, his shoulders dropping a few inches, “Growing up and seeing how my family treated Itachi, I knew I wanted to be nothing like him. They made him an outcast to everyone in my family and you know what, I hated him.” He paused to look directly at Naruto, “Imagine how frustrated I was when my first crush ended up being a bumbling idiot like you. That first summer at camp, you came running up to me as I was about to leave with my parents on the last day. You were crying and you handed me a sunflower. You asked me to promise to write to each other and to come back the next summer. Do you remember that?” A soft smile grew on Sasuke’s face despite his eyes still shining with tears.

Naruto nodded and smiled, “Yeah, we were so young back then.”

“That moment was _the_ moment for me. It’s stupid, but I kept that sunflower. My mom showed me how to press it in a book. _You_ were the only reason I came to this fucking camp year after year.”

Naruto felt his cheeks burn slightly. Everything Sasuke was saying was what he had dreamed of hearing ever since he gave him that sunflower years ago.

Sasuke continued, “I don’t know what I want from this. With my family, I just can’t…”

Naruto dropped his hold on Sasuke’s arm and reached down to his hand to hold it. Sasuke’s eyes snapped down to his hand in Naruto’s and then back up to his eyes.

With a thumb rubbing the back of Sasuke’s hand, Naruto offered his signature smile that seemed to light up the dim forest clearing. “I want you to be happy, Sasuke. This doesn’t have to be anything more than what you feel comfortable with. We can just act normal in public and then sneak off here to spend time together. How does that sound?”

Sasuke nodded, slowly letting himself be comforted by the small strokes of Naruto’s thumb on his hand. Naruto quickly leaned forward to kiss Sasuke’s cheek, brief and chaste. Clearly embarrassed by their newfound “open” affection, Sasuke turned a deep red as they walked hand-in-hand through the forest.

“I-thanks. For understanding.” Sasuke’s voice was barely above a whispered.

Naruto squeezed his hand a little tighter and spoke in a similar soft tone, “Anything for you, Sasuke. _Anything.”_

Just before reaching the forest edge by the mess hall, Naruto nodded to Sasuke and let go of his hand. Sasuke walked out first and headed towards the cabins. Naruto waited around, staring at the cool stillness of Lake Nami for a few minutes before leaving for the cabins as well. When he reached his cabin, the boys were sitting on their beds, sharing funny stories. No one questioned his absence and instead invited him to share his funniest story (it the time at camp when Kiba got in trouble for streaking, which he only did because Shino dared him to). The campers roared with laughter, and Naruto found himself slipping into his thoughts while they continued to share stories. Even at lights out, when Naruto’s head hit his pillow, did he not stop thinking about Sasuke Uchiha.

* * *

The following day was another scorcher at Lake Nami and things continued on as normal. Rock Lee and his campers ran laps around the lake at 5am, waking up everyone with their “youthful cheers”. Naruto was surprised to find that Sasuke didn’t avoid his gaze and even seemed slightly friendlier. Hinata and Tenten got called into the main cabin and chided by Iruka for kissing in front of their campers, which really pushed the “counselors are not allowed to date” rule that they had already broke.

Around 3pm that day, Sakura took her’s and Ino’s campers to the aquatics center for swim time. Ino, stuck on infirmary duty, told Shizune she was going to take her ten minute break and stepped out to the dock behind the building. She slipped off her shoes and sat on the edge of the dock, letting her feet touch the water below. From her position, she could see Sakura setting down her backpack. When she reached for the bottom of her shirt and began to tug it upwards, Ino sucked in a sharp breath. Sakura tossed her camp shirt and shorts on top of her backpack, revealing a modest green one-piece underneath. Ino hadn’t realized how long she had held in her breath until Sai spoke up behind her, “You’re staring.” With that, all the air in Ino’s chest left her. She waited for her friend to sit next to her, arms folded against her chest.

“ _Thaaank youuuu,_ Captain Obvious.” She practically sang, turning her head so he couldn’t see the raspberry colored flush on her cheeks.

Sai tilted his head, trying to read Ino’s body language, “Do you like her or are you jealous of her summer body?”

Ino rolled her eyes at his bluntness, something she would have smacked his arm for normally. She sighed, glancing back over at Sakura who was playing water basketball with her campers. “I don’t know, Sai. I feel kinda guilty having a crush on my best friend.”

Sai looked at her with a confused expression, “When I read _Chicken Noodle Soup for the Teenage Soul_ , parts 1 and 2, it said that most people fall in love with their best friends and to ‘embrace the fear you have about confessing your feelings and to take risks’.”

Before Ino could respond, a third person joined them on the dock. Shino approached with a Ziploc bag in hand, “I’ve removed ten ticks off of campers today. Here they are for analysis.”

Ino took the bag with a disgusted face, “Shino, do you think you could help me ID them? I don’t really want to look at these things for longer than I have to.” She shook her feet above the water and stood up to put her shoes back on and follow him to the infirmary.

After the two had left, Sai sat at the dock with a puzzled expression. He waited around for a few minutes, entrusting Hinata could handle both of their groups back in the arts center. Once Sakura emerged from the lake to dry off, Sai approached her.

“Sakura.” Sai said plainly.

Sakura used the towel to clean water out of her ears, “Yeah, Sai? What’s up?”

“Do you like Ino?” His bluntness caught Sakura off guard and she stammered out a response,

“Uh-What?! What the hell are you talking about?”

Sai took notice that her skin color was starting to flush the same shade as her hair. He pointed back towards the infirmary, “Well, Ino likes you but she thinks it’s weird for her to like her best friend, so I wanted to know if you thought the same thing.”

“Sai!” Sakura smacked his arm hard, making him lose his balance, “When did you learn to lie so well? Did Sasuke teach you?” She forced out a fake laugh that even Sai knew wasn’t genuine.

“But, Sakura, I’m not-“ Sai began but a camper crying out her name caused Sakura to turn away from Sai and head back towards the Lake.

Sai gave up when it was clear Sakura would have her hands full. He headed back towards the arts center with a visible look of disappointment on his face. Hinata, watching over the campers painting, walked over to the defeated looking Sai, “Is everything alright?”

Sai simply shook his head, “I’m starting to think _Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul_ lied to me.”


	6. camp suna move-in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiba decides Kankuro does NOT eat glue, but the jury's still out on his mystery tail.

By the end of week 1, things began to feel more lively at Lake Nami as campers moved into Camp Suna. Despite the smaller size of Camp Suna, common spaces like the mess hall had become over-crowded and full of energy. Everyone was forced to pack in tighter in the benches to accommodate the additional 50 campers at the table. This wasn’t a negative for everyone, as Sakura and Ino both enjoyed the subtle brushing of their arms together as they talked, though neither of them would admit it. Rock Lee made sure to save room at his table for Gaara to sit, excitingly scooting over so that Gaara and his group of campers could enjoy dinner together. Gaara found the gesture sweet and Temari couldn’t help but pick up on the faint evidence of blush on his cheeks each time Lee waved to him from across the room. Kankuro, who squeezed his group of campers into his typical table with Kiba, Sasori, and Shino, felt a small hand tug on his shirt from behind. He turned around to see one of his campers, a rather timid boy that hadn’t said much at all to anyone, chewing on his nails with a fist still clenched around Kankuro’s shirt.

“Uh, what’s up, little guy?” Kankuro asked awkwardly. When the camper gestured for him to get closer, Kankuro tilted his head down so he could whisper in his ear.

“C-can we play with that dog?” The boy whispered, pointing a small finger towards Kiba and Akamaru across the table.

Kankuro threw his head back with laughter, “Sure, sure, let me ask them, buddy.”

Kiba, who had watched the interaction, raised an eyebrow, “Something up?”

Kankuro turned back to face Kiba directly and flashed him a smile that Kiba wished he could have stored in his brain permanently “My campers wanted to know if they could play fetch with Akamaru.”

From below the table, Akamaru let out a happy bark. Kiba chuckled, “Of course! If they finish dinner early, they can join my group outside before it gets too dark.”

The young camper behind Kankuro lit up and scurried towards his fellow campers to share the good news. With that, all of Kankuro’s cabin pounded down their food like it was an eating competition. Kiba’s group, not to be outdone, also joined in. Both groups waited eagerly for Kiba and Kankuro to finish their dinners and after a few more minutes, the large group was headed outside to play with Akamaru.

Kiba grabbed a tennis ball and frisbee from his bag and handed it to a camper. As the kid ran off to join the others and begin their game of fetch, Kiba sighed and rested his hands behind his head, “They’re good kids, huh?”

Kankuro nodded, “Yeah, but they’ve got an even better counselor. I’ve seen how much those kids look up to you and its amazing to watch.”

Kiba perked up and a large grin began to grow on his face, “Is that so? Go ahead, stroke my ego some more, please.”

_There’s something else I’d like to stroke_ \- Kankuro coughed out loud to interrupt his thoughts. He elbowed Kiba’s side lightly, “Remind me to never compliment you again. I don’t think your big ass head could get any bigger.”

Kiba laughed, nursing his side from the not quite so gentle jab. Kankuro studied his face, taking note of how his nose scrunched up when he laughed, hiding some of his freckles in the process. Blush formed on Kankuro’s cheeks as he stared but he couldn’t help it. He had a stupid, old summer camp crush on none other than Camp Konoha’s smelly dog boy. When Kiba’s laughing ceased and his eyes fluttered open, Kankuro averted his gaze towards the ground to not be caught staring.

Kiba noticed Kankuro’s fixation on the ground and tapped his arm, “Wanna sit and watch?”

Kankuro, feeling just as embarrassed that Kiba noticed his averted gaze as much as he would if he was caught staring, nodded and sat down on the grass beneath him.

“Hey, Kankuro?” Kiba asked softly, his voice taking a much quieter tone than usual. Kankuro hummed a response and waited for Kiba to continue. “I’m glad we’ve become friends. You’re…different from most of the people here.”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Kiba began to squirm in his seat, worried that he had come off as too forward too quickly. After what felt like an hour, Kankuro spoke up, “I feel the same. But tell me….is that a ‘cool, sexy and mysterious different’ or a ‘you look like you eat glue in your free time different’?”

Relieved, Kiba let out an ungodly loud laugh that made Kankuro chuckle in response. Before Kiba could answer, a camper drowned out the laughter with an ear-piercing shriek, “WATCH OUT!”

**_WHACK!_ **

A wayward tennis ball smacked Kiba directly in the face, sending him backwards onto the grass. Blood began to trickle from Kiba’s nose and Kankuro watched as the skin beneath Kiba’s left eye turned a sinister deep purple. Kiba groaned in pain, wiping the blood from his nose, “Who the FUCK threw that? Babe Ruth?”

Kankuro let out a breathless laugh, “If I made a joke about balls on your face, would it help?”

Kiba groaned even louder, “No but kicking you in the dick might.”

Kankuro smirked, “Easy on the precious goods, alright? Do you want me to take you to the infirmary?”

After trying to sit up only to have more blood drip out of his nose, Kiba nodded. Kankuro stood up and told the campers to head back to their respective cabins and that Kiba would be okay. With that, Kankuro bent down and scooped Kiba up, carrying him wedding style. Kiba felt almost all of his pain subside as he focused his attention on the strong arms carrying him like he was a feather. He stared up at Kankuro, eyes taking in his intricate makeup, piercings, and strong jaw line from a different, new angle.

Kankuro, noticing his stares, looked down at Kiba as they walked, “Everything okay?”

Kiba nodded with as much of a smile as he could manage, “Yeah, everything’s alright.”

* * *

Even with Ino’s care, Kiba still woke up the next morning with a purple and green bruise under his eye. The camper who threw the ball, one of Kiba’s own, gave him a handmade “I’m Sorry / Get Well Soon” card that made Kiba tear up. He placed a hand on the kid’s head and ruffled up his hair, “No need to worry; we should be talking about that hell of an arm you’ve got! You are definitely going to be Camp Konoha’s star pitcher this year.”

The entire cabin lit up in excitement, chanting “LET’S GO CABIN 7!”

Kiba and Akamaru joined in with a howl. “In fact, I think you should show that off at the talent show tonight! Maybe we can get something from the obstacle course that you can knock over to show off!” The cabin erupted in more cheers at the prospect of one of their own winning the camp talent show.

Kiba smiled, wincing slightly from the pain of his bruises. His mind flickered back to his conversation with Kankuro the night before. Their conversation, the feeling of Kankuro’s arms holding him, the way Kankuro’s dimples showed when he smiled…all of it ran through Kiba’s brain on repeat that morning. As he took his campers to the aquatics center for their designated swimming time, Kiba passed by Kankuro’s group heading towards the Konoha hiking trails. With a newfound giddiness, Kiba ran up and pulled Kankuro to the side.

Kankuro’s eyes widened, “He really got you good with that tennis ball, huh? Shit, I’m sorry-“

“Kankuro. I don’t think you eat glue.”

There was a pause before Kankuro responded in a questioning voice, “Thank you?”

Kiba felt his cheeks flush, “No, I don’t mean-remember our conversation yesterday about being different? I didn’t mean it in the ‘glue eating’ way. I meant it in the other way.”

Kankuro blinked a few times. _He thinks I’m cool? Sexy? MYSTERIOUS?_ “Oh. Uh, thank you.” _I feel the same-just say it, you idiot!_

Kiba turned to run back towards his campers but Kankuro reached out to grab his hand, “Kiba, I need to show you something important tonight. It’s my big secret. Meet me outside the arts center after the talent show tonight?”

Kiba’s eyes scanned his face and found a genuine sternness. He nodded, and suddenly his mind began to race about what Kankuro’s big secret might be. _A hidden tail? An extra toe? A collection of dead bodies he needs help burying?_

“Will I need a shovel?”

Kankuro’s face twisted in confusion, “A what?”

“I’ll take that as a no. Sounds good.” With that, Kiba ran back towards his campers, leaving Kankuro more confused than before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter and delay; I've been in a bit of a writing funk so I wanted to use this mini-chapter to pull myself out of it (kankukiba is my favorite ship to write) but I'll be back to my usual writing format and more balanced ship writing for chapter 7! Thank you!


	7. talent show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kiba learns that the fountain of youth is deep within a hand-made sex doll

The camp talent show was scheduled after dinner and Hinata and her campers were noticeably absent from the mess hall that night, frantically setting everything up until the last moment. Rock Lee found his usual spot beside Gaara, who seemed to become more alert once he noticed the energetic man at his side. Lee, smiling as bright as ever, reached across the table to high-five each of his campers.

“Who is going to do their best at the talent show tonight?” Lee asked, half-shouting.

“CABIN FOUR IS!” The campers burst out in union, causing everyone in the hall to turn and stare. Gaara, feeling some eyes falling on him due to his proximity to Lee, shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Might Gai stood up from his seat across the hall and applauded cabin four’s youthful confidence while Iruka, Kakashi and Yamato rolled their eyes.

Once people turned back around in their seats and stopped staring, Gaara coughed quietly to break the silence. Lee turned slightly in his seat to face his friend, “Gaara!”

If Gaara had eyebrows, he’d raise one. Instead, the skin of his forehead above his left eye crinkled slightly, “Yes, Lee?”

Lee grabbed Gaara’s hands, holding them in his own, “Would you please accompany me on a nature hike tomorrow afternoon?”

Gaara blinked a few times. _A nature hike?_ “Oh, sure. That sounds….nice,” he replied in his usual monotoned voice and straight face, but there was an underlying sense of giddiness buried deep inside him that felt uncomfortable. He noticed that Lee’s eyes were shiny ( _Are those tears of joy…?_ ) and Lee squeezed Gaara’s hands slightly, causing that excitement to bubble up inside of Gaara.

Lee went on to explain the details, eventually releasing Gaara’s hands which made Gaara frown slightly. It wasn’t enough for Lee to see, but judging from Temari’s smirk from across the table, it was noticeable enough.

Temari shifted her gaze to see Shikamaru getting up from his seat besides Neji. He winked at her from across the room before shoving his hands in his pockets and sauntering out the front door. Temari reached up and undid her intricate updo, letting her sandy locks rest on her shoulders. She turned to her campers and told them to follow Kankuro’s cabin to the arts center for the talent show and that she would join them there. With that, Temari got up from her seat and met Shikamaru outside. He noticed her presence besides him but decided to act cool and let a cloud of vapor escape his lips and fade into the night air before turning to face her. He held out the vape which she eagerly took and placed it between her lips. Shikamaru smiled to himself, _She’s been wearing her hair down a lot more around me._

“So, what’s on the agenda for tonight?” Temari asked, passing the vape back to him.

Shikamaru hummed, “What about…worst sexual experience?”

Temari let out a chuckle, “Oh, I don’t think you’re ready for this one. Two words: foot fetish.”

* * *

After everyone finished dinner, both camps headed to the Konoha arts center for the talent show. Sakura headed towards the infirmary to grab the full first aid kit. Sasuke, who had been absent for the second half of dinner and had appeared besides his cabin group seemingly out of nowhere, broke off to catch up to Sakura. When he finally reached her, she was fiddling with her keys to the infirmary front door.

“Sakura.”

She turned her head to see the camp’s emo wearing a hoodie with the hood up, covering most of him apart from his face. “Are you jumping me…?”

Sasuke’s face didn’t budge an inch, “I need three of your biggest band-aids.”

Sakura, who finally unlocked the door and let him in, raised an eyebrow, “And just what are these big band-aids for?” Quickly, Sakura’s tone shifted from suspicious to concerned, “Is someone hurt?!”

Sasuke raised a hand to stop her, “No, it’s okay. But we need those band-aids.”

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura studied Sasuke closely. She placed a hand on her hip and folded her arms against her chest, “I have to diagnose a patient before I can give out specialty band-aids. Nurse Shizune’s orders.” It was a lie, and a bad one at that.

There was a pause and tension built in the air. Finally, Sasuke reached up and lowered his hood, unzipping his jacket slightly. Sakura gasped as she saw the gigantic hickeys along Sasuke’s neck and what looked to be a bite mark on the opposite side.

Her eyes were as wide as saucers and she spoke as if the wind had been knocked out of her, “Was it…. _NARUTO_?!”

Sasuke’s temple bulged slightly as a vein showed prominently, “Can I just get those fucking band-aids or what?”

Sakura’s shocked expression shifted into an ear-to-ear grin and she rummaged through the drawers and picked out three of the largest band-aids she had. She hesitated for a second before Sasuke offered a slight nod, signaling to her that she could apply them for him. Luckily, they were just big enough to cover the reddish, purple bruises.

“There you go.” Sakura took a step back, noticing Sasuke’s visible discomfort.

He turned to leave before pausing in the door frame, “Hey, Sakura…”

“Hm?”

“If you tell anyone about this, I’ll tell Ino about your little crush on her.” Sasuke smirked as Sakura’s jaw dropped.

_How does he know-!?_

Sakura’s face turned red and she frantically tried to laugh it off, “I-I don’t know what you are talking about I-“

With a devious grin still plastered on his face, Sasuke zipped his hoodie back up, “It’s obvious. You’re just as bad as me at covering things up.” Sasuke gave Sakura a slight wave before heading out the front door, leaving her flustered and at a loss of words. Sakura felt her throat become dry and her hand shake a little out of embarrassment, which she quickly closed into a fist to stop the sensation.

_Has it really been that obvious-? Did….did Naruto say something!?_

Her mind flashed back to Sai asking her if she liked Ino by the dock earlier and suddenly she felt her stomach turn.

_Just how many fucking people did Naruto blab too?!_

* * *

The talent show had begun with a less than enthusiastic introduction by Kakashi who wore his casual tie-dye staff shirt, gym shorts, tube socks and sandals; an outfit that was most likely his pajamas. Lee started the show off by doing push-ups with two of his campers on his back, which earned him a standing ovation from Might Gai. Kiba’s camper threw a baseball, knocking over a record 10 milk jugs from across the room. Choji ate 5 hot dogs in under a minute, which was met with great applause from the campers. Tenten showed off her contortionist skills and received the most applause of the night.

Once she bowed and walked off the stage, Kiba elbowed Hinata to his right. She turned her adoring gaze away from her girlfriend and faced her best friend while still clapping, “Hm?”

The grin on Kiba’s face could only be described as shit-eating. He cupped a hand by Hinata’s ear and bent down to whisper, “So tell me, does she do all that flexible shit in the sack too?”

Hinata, who’s cheeks blushed a familiar shade of pink, gasped and smacked Kiba’s shoulder as hard as possible (which was pretty damn hard), “KIBA!”

The crowd’s applause began to die out, failing to drown out Kiba’s cackled laughter. Iruka, who had taken the stage to announce the next performance, shot him a disapproving glance, “Kiba Inuzuka, please cut it out.”

Kiba’s campers stifled giggles at the sight of their counselor getting scolded. Kiba bowed his head, but the grin on his face showed that he wasn’t sorry about a single thing.

Iruka continued the introduction of the next act: Kankuro and Sasori and their special friends Karasu and Kuroari. Confused and surprised, Kiba and Hinata exchanged a glance as Kankuro and the perpetually quiet Sasori took the stage with two puppets in their hands. They sat down in chairs, turned at an angle as to face each other but still open enough for the audience. Kankuro’s puppet Karasu was a hideous humanoid puppet with four arms wearing a drab poncho. Sasori held Kuroari, which sported six arms, red horns and a similar grey poncho.

With Karasu propped up on his lap, Kankuro nodded to Sasori, “Well, it’s so great to be here tonight, Sasori. Check out the fantastic audience we have in front of us!”

Without moving his lips, Kankuro spoke for Karasu as he moved it’s mouth. The voice he used was more gruff than his normal talking voice, “You mean this ugly lot?”

The young audience laughed as Kankuro looked shocked at his puppet. The bit continued, with Sasori and Kankuro talking about their favorite things about summer camp, only to have Karasu and Kuroari diss them.

The campers loved it, with Kankuro earning more laughs than Sasori’s dry delivery. The pair took their bows, making their puppets bow as well, and Yamato announced the last performance: Naruto belching the ABCs. The talent show came to an end; one of Shino’s campers won first place for a breakdance performance and Tenten won first place for the counselors. As campers and counselors began to file out of the arts center, Kiba told his campers to head in for the night with Akamaru before heading towards the back of the arts building. He found Kankuro leaning against the building, staring up at the night sky.

Kiba took a moment to enjoy the view, seeing Kankuro looking so cool without any effort. Finally, he broke the silence to get the other man’s attention,  “Nice job up there tonight.”

Kankuro turned his head, flashing Kiba a smile, “My ventriloquist act? You can be honest with me if you thought it was corny.”

Kiba stood besides him and playfully shoved Kankuro’s shoulder, “It was a little dorky but still pretty cool. Did you make the uh…puppets?”

Kankuro’s smile returned and he was thankful for the dim lighting for concealing his blush, “Yeah, me and Sasori have been making puppets together for years. I make them for fun, lots of animal and monster like ones. Sasori’s more into making lifelike dolls. His place is covered in these super realistic puppets and dolls and even I think it’s pretty freaky.”

The pair began to walk towards Camp Suna. Kiba frowned slightly, “You must hang out with him a lot. Are you two…?”

Kankuro stopped dead in his tracks, “Are you asking me if I’m dating Sasori?”

Kiba turned away, completely mortified, “I mean-I uh-“

He was cut off by a burst of laughter from Kankuro, who bent over to clutch his sides as his cackles rang out in the quiet night. Kiba, thinking he was being laughed at, furrowed his brow, “You don’t have to be an ass about it.”

The laughter finally ceased and Kankuro wiped a wayward tear before straightening back up. He saw Kiba’s face was twisted with annoyance so he placed a hand on Kiba’s shoulder, “Sorry for laughing, but Sasori is like a cousin to me. Plus he’s 18 years older than me.”

Kiba’s face shifted from anger to an expression of pure shock that Kankuro so desperately wished he could have snapped a pic of, “HE’S ALMOST 40?!?!”

Kankuro laughed, more breathlessly now that his abdomen hurt, “Yeah, don’t ask me what kind of crap he’s cramming into that face of his. Temari says the fountain of youth must be carving your own sex dolls.”

Kiba howled with laughter, “Then I’m relieved you’re not dating your 40 year old puppet fucking cousin.”

The pair continued their walk until they reached the Suna greenhouse. Kankuro fiddled with his keys before finding the right one that unlocked the backdoor. He turned to face Kiba with a look of seriousness, “What I’m about to show you is top secret. You can’t tell a single soul about it, okay?”

Kiba’s mind immediately flashed to _please don’t be a dead body in there_ before slowly nodding his head.

Kankuro opened the door, letting Kiba in first. The green house was warm and the only source of light was a few dim lamps focused on a particular group of plants. Kankuro led him to the back of the structure which had a small enclosed room for storage. Another key unlocked the small room and as the door opened, Kiba let out a gasp.

Weed.

Kankuro was growing weed in the Camp Suna greenhouse.

Six small plants stood underneath a wash of LED grow lights that had recently turned off and a small fan blew air over the leaves. Kankuro stood with his hands on his hips, proud of his little set up.

“I can’t believe you are growing fucking pot on camp grounds.” Kiba wasn’t afraid to admit he was both amazed and a _little_ turned on.

Kankuro grinned, “I take it my assumption you smoke was correct?”

“Oh, of fucking course.”

Kiba watched as Kankuro bent down to dig through a bin on the ground. He pulled out a few items and set them on the counter. Rolling papers, a grinder, and a container of dried buds. Kiba’s eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas.

Kankuro smirked at him with a suggestive brow raised, “Mind if I roll you a joint?”

_Fuck me, he’s hot._ Kiba nodded and took attentive note of Kankuro’s deft fingers as they twisted and folded and pinched…Kiba shook his head slightly in a failed attempt to rid his mind of dirty thoughts. “Wanna know something funny? I thought your big secret was going to be a dead body or something.”

Kankuro laughed, bringing up paper to lick and seal the edges, “You are just about the last person I’d bury a dead body with.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, I think?” Kiba took a step closer to Kankuro, just close enough to allow their shoulders to brush as Kankuro prepared a second joint.

Suddenly, the sound of keys clanging outside the storage room made Kankuro stop dead in his tracks. When a key placed in the lock found the door to in fact be unlocked, a familiar voice on the other side of the door rang out, “I’m going to fucking KILL my brother-“

Temari opened the door with a curious looking Shikamaru at her side. The four of them exchanged confused glances until finally Kankuro spoke up, “What the hell are you two doing here?”

Crossing her arms against her chest, Temari gestured her head towards Kiba, “I could ask you two the same thing.”

Kankuro shrugged, “So much for the ‘Smoke Siblings’ secret, huh? Well if you two _love birds_ care to join, I can’t stop you.”

If looks could kill, Temari would have assassinated Kankuro instantly. She felt her face grow hot at her brother’s _love bird_ comment and delivered a powerful punch to his shoulder.

Shikamaru took a step forward in the room and went to check out their set up, pretending to ignore the two feuding siblings. Kiba frowned slightly, feeling disappointed that what would have been a private smoke session with the guy he’s had the hots for came to a jarring halt. Surprisingly, Shikamaru offered Kiba a somewhat knowing glance, as if equally disappointed he couldn’t have some quality alone time with Temari.

Kankuro resumed his work preparing joints for everyone. Between the four of them they successfully hot boxed the cramped storage closet, creating a thick cloud of smoke around them. Distracted with his own flirtatious gaze glued to Kiba and the way his lips parted as he exhaled slowly, Kankuro failed to notice Shikamaru looking his sister up and down. Temari had noticed his eyes lingering near her V-neck and maybe it was the weed or just a crack in her tough demeanor but Temari enjoyed it. Something about being eyed at by a cute guy while smoking weed in a greenhouse at a summer camp that she worked at made her blood rush and the hairs on her arms stand up. It was dangerous, but it was exciting.

Kiba, who had caught Kankuro’s eyes focused on his lips more than once, dropped the used joint on the ground and crushed the roach to stop the embers. He was definitely stoned, losing balance slightly as he bent to pick up the crushed joint and giggling all the while. “You know, we should save some for the big counselor bonfire. Naruto and I stole some beer and booze and I think getting cross faded sounds like an excellent night.”

Temari, Kankuro and Shikamaru exchanged grins. The counselor bonfire already had a reputation for being wild after the summer a former counselor named Deidara set off explosive fireworks that nearly set the whole forest on fire, so what harm could adding a little weed do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! But the next two chapters are the ones I've been the most excited to write so they will be coming soon! Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! For more related content, such as art, a map, extra drabbles about this fic, check out my twitter @ momsasuke!


End file.
